Quadruplets
by Viridis Lupus
Summary: "Older women are more likely to conceive multiples," the obstetrician smiled, genially. Meredith did not. She'd just been called freakin' old. She was old and she was having four babies! Four tiny identical humans. This could not be happening.
1. Accident

**Author's Note - This is set after the shootings but Cristina doesn't have a break down - or if she did she's already had it, we'll have to see how the next few episodes pan out after Christmas - and that's about all that's different to the show. I think. **

Light suddenly cascaded through the window, bathing the snoozing figure in the bed unexpectedly. Her features scrunched up like a wizened newborn puppy and she let out a whine.

"Derek!"

"Meredith, it's time to get up. You have a shift in an hour."

The soft lilt of her husband's voice reached her ears and she imagined that stupidly soppy look on his face. It was the one which he got when she was being difficult and he was just indulging her. She'd throw a pillow at it if she had the energy. Instead she just lay there with her eyes closed, too lethargic to move.

Listening carefully, she heard his bare feet pad across the floor over to her side of the bed. Abruptly, the covers were whipped away and she whimpered as the cold buffeted her slender frame, curling herself up in an effort to keep warm. A strong arm slid beneath her shoulder blades and pulled her gently upward. She murmured in protest.

"Come on, Mer," Derek whispered in her ear, kissing her on the temple. "I have a meeting and if you want a lift then you're going to have to cooperate."

"I'm sick," she moaned, blinking slowly as she tried to make sense of her surroundings. However, her head felt like soup and she was having trouble focussing on anything because of the light-headedness that had crept up on her.

Derek sighed, his patience wearing a little. "Meredith," he warned. "You _have _to work. You can't just pull a sick day just because you're tired. You shouldn't have stayed up with Christina watching all those god-awful horror movies. I told you didn't I…?"

However, he was cut off suddenly when Meredith ripped herself from his grip and sprung to her feet, almost falling over as she did so. Careening across the floor, she charged headfirst into the hallway and over into the bathroom where she dropped to her knees and violently vomited into the toilet.

Immediately concerned, Derek strode swiftly after her and crouched down behind her in order to pull her hair out of the way and rub her back soothingly. "Whoa, what brought this on?"

"I'm sick," Meredith murmured, weakly, "See, I told you, didn't I?"

Derek frowned as she retched again, his smooth brow creasing with worry. "Okay. I concede. Seems you were right. Do you want me to stay? I mean I can cancel the meet-"

"No, Derek," Meredith interrupted, shaking her head and immediately regretting the movement. Her vision swam. "Y-you have to go…" She trailed off just in time to throw up again. "I can look after myself."

His eyes soft with sympathy, Derek stroked his wife's loose hair and climbed to his feet. "Right, well, I'll sort some stuff out for you then. Do you think the worst of its over? Do you want to stay here or go back to bed?"

"Stay here," Meredith replied, feebly dropping down from the lid of the toilet and curling around its foot, pressing the cool ceramic against her clammy forehead. Her dizziness abated slightly.

Feeling his heart go out to his obviously sick wife, Derek was reluctant to leave her in such a state and he was still deliberating over calling in to postpone the meeting when he heard what sounded like a grunt of annoyance. Surprised, he looked down at Meredith who glowered back up at him.

"For Christ's sake, Derek, it's just a bug. Go and save some freakin' lives. They need your help more than I do."

"Fine," he agreed, defeated, "I'm going but I'll call in for you and get you some saltines and water. Okay?"

Barely understanding him through her haze of nausea, Meredith merely whispered, "That would be nice." Then she listened to him leave.

A few minutes later the sound of footfalls signified his return but Meredith couldn't be bothered to move in order to see him properly. She was in exactly the same position he'd left her in – hugging the toilet like a life-line. Vaguely, she sensed him come closer and place the cup and plate down next to her elbow. Then a gentle kiss was dropped on top of her head.

"Love you, Mer. I hope you feel better soon."

"Me too," she mumbled and Derek smiled, tenderly, guessing that she was answering for both his statements.

"Call me if you feel worse. Unfortunately, I have two surgeries planned so I'll see you this evening. Is that okay?"

"S'fine." Turning slightly, Meredith cracked open her eyes and stared at the overly concerned face of her husband. "Now leave me alone so I can die I peace."

Derek chuckled but complied, stepping out of the bathroom and into the hallway so he could get ready for work. When he finally collected his bag and keys, he sent one last lingering look up the staircase to where he knew his wife was suffering and then walked, reluctantly, out of the front door.

* * *

It was about two o'clock in the afternoon when Meredith's grey-green eyes cracked slightly open. Through slits, she examined the crevices and knots in the wooden floor that her cheek was pressed up against. Her mouth felt dry and her throat raw but, as she tentatively righted herself, she found that she no longer felt the overwhelming need to barf. That was a promising sign.

Water.

That's what she needed. Flailing out wildly, she was lucky not to knock over Derek's considerately placed cup of water. Fortunately, her fingers brushed the cold glass before she could do too much damage and gratefully closed around the cylindrical object. Gingerly, she brought the cool liquid to her parched lips and gulped greedily, wincing at first but then beginning to enjoy the smoothness on the inside of her roughened throat.

Now her dry throat wasn't burning, she could consider climbing to her feet. She did so with some effort, hefting her slight frame up using significant leverage from the toilet seat. Once upright, she fought a moment of unsteadiness and then found her balance. Her bones creaked ominously, obviously protesting after being on the uncomfortably hard floor for so long. However, she was unperturbed as she padded cautiously down the corridor and then navigated the stairs.

Dropping like a sack of potatoes onto the couch, Meredith captured the controller from its precarious perch on the edge of an armchair and flicked on the TV. Images jumped brightly out of the screen and she squinted a little, her head still muggy with sleep. Just as she was settling in to watch some crappy house program, her stomach let out a loud grumble. She blinked, surprised. Usually, when she had a bug and had vomited for the majority of the morning, she didn't tend to warm to the idea of eating. However, her insides seemed to be having other ideas.

With a sigh, she lurched to her feet and shuffled towards the kitchen, her fluffy socks sliding easily on the smooth floor. Rummaging around in the bread bin she found the remnants of a fluffy white loaf that looked just about edible and popped a couple of pieces in the toaster. Whilst the bread toasted, she scoured the refrigerator for some butter. Unfortunately the shelves were pitifully empty after her and Cristina had raided all the food stores last night for a midnight feast and all that remained was a small chunk of mouldy cheese and a can of Mountain Dew. Wrinkling her nose, Meredith shut the heavy door with a clunk and returned to her toast which had jumped up.

As she munched happily on the slightly charred bread, she meandered casually around the kitchen and contemplated tidying up the detritus that had accumulated over several days, perhaps even weeks. Usually, she wasn't much of a cleaner – Derek would agree to that any time he was asked – but seeing the sea of mess around her she couldn't help but want to spruce the place up. They always used the excuse that they were busy people who didn't have time for cleaning and that's why their house was perpetually in chaos (well, Meredith always used that excuse whereas Derek generally tried to be tidy) but now Meredith couldn't work out why she'd never been bothered by the pigsty her home had become. It was gross. She _needed _to tidy.

And so she set about cleaning the kitchen. And then the living room. And then the hall. And then the entire house. It didn't seem like a chore. In fact, she kind of enjoyed it, especially when she turned the radio on and vacuumed in time to the music. By the time Queen's _Don't Stop Me Now _blared from the speakers the house was spotless. Meredith dropped onto the sofa and beamed proudly to herself. See! She could be a good wife….when she put her mind to it….which wasn't often…mainly because she was focussed on saving people's _freakin' lives! _Speaking of which, she probably should have done some paperwork or read some journals on her 'sick day' rather than spring clean the house.

Sighing, Meredith clambered to her feet and went in search of her bag. Just then the phone rang.

"Meredith! Where the hell are you? Why aren't you here having the hellish day I'm currently enduring?" Cristina Yang's unmistakable voice blared from the phone which Meredith had just picked up. She winced.

"I'm…well I was….ill," Meredith said, feeling rather pathetic now.

"You're so pathetic!" Cristina echoed bluntly and Meredith could just imagine her dark brown eyes rolling dramatically. "What happened to the good ol' days when it would literally take a blow to the head or internal bleeding to make us take a sick day? I liked those days when you weren't all complete wusses! Evil Spawn is being a whiny man-child 'cos he's got a 'jack-hammer of a headache'." Cristina quoted Alex with uncanny accuracy. "And everyone is friggin' sneezing on me like it's the plague or something! I hate February! It's official." She paused mid-rant. "Now, inform me again as to why you aren't here?"

"Sick?" Meredith replied, feebly.

"Wuss!" Cristina exclaimed and then sighed. "You better be in tomorrow Meredith or I might actually kill someone."

"I promise I will. I'm feeling better."

"Good. Well, I'll see you then." With that Cristina hung up.

Meredith stared at the phone for a couple of seconds, a little stunned, but she guessed she should really be used to Cristina's ways by now considering how long they'd been friends. Eventually, she placed it back in its cradle and resumed the search for her bag.

* * *

The clock read eight o'clock by the time Derek returned home. Meredith heard the telltale rattle of keys and the creak of the front door as her husband stepped over the threshold. He dropped his bag in the hallway with a clunk before hurrying up the stairs; the thump of his footfalls accompanied his ascent. She listened as he squeaked open the bathroom door and whispered, "Meredith" into the darkness. After flicking the light switch and determining she was no longer curled up on the cold, hard floor he called out louder, "Meredith? Mer? Where are you?"

"In the bedroom," Meredith called back.

Another shuffle followed and he swished into the room with his long winter coat still on.

"You feeling better?" he queried, seeing her tucked up in bed. "It's snowing outside."

Meredith's green-grey eyes widened in horror. "You're kidding?"

"No. I'm not," Derek replied, bemused by her reaction. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Meredith nodded, waving her hand flippantly, "I'm not feeling sick anymore but _please _don't tell me you walked up my _clean _stairs in your wet, snowy boots."

Derek's brow creased. "I….did?"

"I spent hours on that!"

"Since when did you clean? I thought you were sick?"

"I just said I'm better, didn't I? It cleared up by lunch time so I thought I'd tidy."

"You've never voluntarily tidied in your life." Derek's eyebrows had shot into his hairline. "How much did you tidy?"

"Well, I had the whole day and one room led to the next so I ended up cleaning the whole house."

"This isn't like the knitting thing is it?"

"No. The house _needed _a clean, Derek. Ever since Avery, April and Lexie went away for their vacation this place has been getting worse. You know April usually keeps everything tidy and now that she's not here I felt the need to tidy, you know, to make up for her absence and then I started to polish stuff and do you realise how much stuff we have that hasn't been polished since forever and…."

"Okay, okay I surrender. Are you _sure_ you're feeling better?" Derek questioned, slightly teasing as he walked round the bed and placed a very cold hand on her warm forehead. Meredith's skin didn't feel too hot so she couldn't have a fever. She batted him away.

"I'm fine. I said. I just felt it was time for me to, you know; step up to the mark and all. Be a good housewife…"

"And you're in bed at eight because?"

"I'm really, really tired. It's strange….I feel exhausted like I've just pulled a double but I've been home all day."

Derek's blue eyes softened. "Sounds like you are sick, Mer. I'm pretty tired too so I'll just have a shower and then join you."

"Surely you should go in one of the spare rooms otherwise you'll get it?" Meredith asked.

"I don't get sick," Derek smiled. It was his trademark smug smile that both infuriated and endeared her at the same time. "Besides." He grinned and patted the covers. "You look so cute and cosy in that bed I don't want to miss out on all the warmth."

"Okay," Meredith yawned and closed her eyes, sliding further under the blankets. "See you in a bit."

By the time Derek returned to the bed Meredith was fast asleep.

* * *

Meredith was sick again in the morning and Derek forced her to take another day off. Once again her overwhelming nausea cleared up by midday and she found herself mooching around the house with nothing to do. She'd done the housework and all the paperwork she needed. In the end she decided to go on a walk. It was excruciatingly cold out so she wrapped up extra warm in several layers if only to appease the niggling-omnipresent Derek who now lived in her mind. He was as insanely irritating and organised as the real thing if not more so. Sometimes she hated being married to a righteous know-it-all.

The whole world was carpeted in a wonderful white blanket of snow and Meredith enjoyed the crunch of her heavy boots on the fluffy surface as she made her way along the sidewalk. A few stray flakes were still drifting down from the sky and she managed to get several entangled in her light brown locks. One even dropped daintily into her eye, blinding her with its coldness momentarily before it caught in her eyelashes and she managed to brush it away. Her warm breath hit the cold air sending smoky spirals into the atmosphere where they soon dissipated.

On the other side of the street she saw a man pulling along his two children in a bright blue sled. They shrieked in delight and urged him to go faster as they glided across the smooth snow. He seemed to be enjoying himself too; a massive grin was plastered onto his bearded face. It was a very sweet family scene. Meredith felt a pang of jealousy. If she'd had the baby….if she hadn't lost it….then perhaps Derek would be the one dragging their child along in the snow. Well, actually it probably wouldn't be old enough for such activities but they still would have been a family. Grief gnawed painfully inside her.

She watched the little family curiously as they progressed down the sidewalk and it was because she was so focussed on them that she saw what was about to happen a split second before it did. A boy on a bike skidded around the corner and collided with the father, knocking his feet out from beneath him and sending him sprawling forward, headfirst over the still skidding bike and onto the boy. The bike continued on its devastating trajectory into the sled. Its handlebar struck one of the children on the head, sending her neck snapping back whilst the other end swung round and knocked the younger child into the road. Disorientated, the toddler tried to push itself up but was either too much in shock or too young to get any further than its knees. Instead it cried out desperately.

This had all happened within a few seconds and Meredith found herself gravitating towards the accident, especially when she caught sight of a car speeding much too fast along the icy road. Could this get any worse? The driver would never be able to stop in time even if he saw the child crawling in the road.

Without thinking Meredith sprinted across the street, her boots only just managing to grip on the icy surface. She would never make it in time! Pushing herself to move faster than she ever had in her life Meredith found the child within arms' reach and scooped it off the floor. Unfortunately, she wasn't completely out of the path of the car, a fact she soon realised when she felt the sharp, intense pain explode in her elbow. It spread down her arm like wildfire and she let out a scream of agony. Somehow, though, she still managed to keep hold of the small child in her grip.

A screech of brakes and a massive crash behind her made her spin, despite the excruciating heated pain in her arm, to see the smoking wreck of the car which had collided with parked truck.

Then there was the silence.

A silence that reminded Meredith of being underwater, eerie and surreal. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she spun in a circle and surveyed the destruction which had been caused by a careless boy on a bike just seconds ago. Her heart thundered deafeningly in her ears. She could feel her hot blood flowing through her veins, just beneath her pale skin. The child in her arms was shaking. Several passersby had closed in. Some were checking on the father who was just sitting up and the boy who'd scrambled to his feet. Meredith realised he was about to run for it but no one else did so they didn't react quick enough to stop him from sprinting away.

"This kid's unconscious! And she's bleeding pretty badly!" someone yelled.

Everything snapped back into normal speed when those words reached Meredith's ears. She placed the trembling toddler into someone's arms, told them to call 911 and hurried over to the prone form of the little blonde haired girl. Crimson blood matted her golden curls. The delicate shells of her eyelids were closed.

"Stand back," she ordered, "I'm a doctor."

Ignoring the pain in her arm, Meredith quickly assessed the child and established that she was breathing. That was good. She definitely didn't want to move her, especially as she'd seen how hard she'd been hit. There was a high possibility her neck was broken. This was definitely going to be a neurosurgical case; the skin on her skull wasn't broken but Meredith suspected an epidural hematoma from the decerebrate posturing she was displaying and the abnormal reaction of the girl's pupils to light. She gently stroked the girl's soft golden fringe off her forehead. There was nothing more she could do until the ambulance arrived.

"Is she alive?" a strangled voice exclaimed and the father of the child stepped into Meredith's line of vision. He was also sporting a head wound. Blood trickled down over the ridge of his eyebrow. He dropped to his knees beside Meredith.

"She's…her condition is serious," Meredith replied diplomatically.

"Are you really a doctor?"

"Yes."

"That's…lucky," the man said but he didn't sound as if he thought it was lucky. He just sounded like his world had ended. His vocal chords sounded as if they were being scraped across cut glass. "He just….he came out of nowhere…the boy, I mean."

"I know. I saw the whole thing."

"Where's Billy?" the man suddenly yelped, looking wildly around.

"Your son? He's fine. He wasn't injured. He's with that woman. See?" Meredith swiftly reassured the distraught father.

"Oh. Yes." The man nodded. "You saved him from that car. Thank you."

"It was….it was nothing. I mean I had to…"

"Her name's Maisie." He gestured to the girl.

"Maisie. Right. What's your name?"

"Tim."

"Okay Tim. I can't do anything for your daughter right now. We'll have to wait until the ambulance comes. I need to go see how the guy in the car is. I'll be back as soon as I can. Okay? You just stay with her. Hold her hand. Talk to her."

"Will she wake up?" he asked, earnestly. His dark eyes pleaded with her.

Meredith paused and then said, softly, "Not yet, Tim."

Quickly she left and hurried over to the car. Several people had gathered around the door and were murmuring between themselves. Meredith pushed them out of the way without preamble and tried to open the car door. It was jammed shut. Sighing, she scrambled through the window – bashing her elbow and hissing in pain as she did so - and inelegantly dropped into the seat beside the injured man. A spider web of cracks showed where his head had impacted with the windshield. The large, ugly red wound on his head was a bit of a giveaway too. Meredith groaned internally. Why did people never wear their damn seatbelts? It only took two freakin' seconds.

By the time she'd assessed the unconscious driver the screaming of sirens had pierced the cold wintery air and she sagged in relief. Usually she would have no difficulty dealing with acute trauma but she was feeling quite woozy due to the pain in her arm and the illness or exhaustion or whatever she was already battling. In fact, by the time one of the technicians began ushering her into the rig she was ready to sit down and sleep. However, the sharp pain in her elbow kept her awake. Well, that and the fact she needed to stay with her seriously injured patients. As the Maisie already had her father and her brother with her, Meredith elected to travel with the driver who had yet to rouse. She'd discovered his name with Ralph Monaghan from his driver's licence.

* * *

As the doors sprung open to reveal Seattle Grace, Meredith was as surprised as Cristina to see her standing outside waiting for the incoming trauma.

"Meredith? What….?"

"Long story. No time to explain. This is Ralph Monaghan. He's thirty-two. Unrestrained driver. Skidded on the ice and hit a parked truck. Severe head trauma from hitting the windshield. BP is…ahhh."

Meredith hissed in pain as one of the paramedics knocked her elbow as he climbed from the ambulance. Cristina immediately jumped on it.

"What's wrong? What have you done? You better tell me Meredith…"

"Like I said," Meredith retorted, swiftly, as she climbed down from the rig and helped get the gurney off. "It's a long story. A lot of stuff happened. I saved this kid from getting flattened by this guy's car but got hit in the process…._only _on the arm!" Meredith quickly corrected herself, seeing Cristina's eyes widen. "And I dunno, I think it's just bruised."

Before she could do anything in defence, Cristina grabbed Meredith and inspected her arm, not caring when her friend cried out in pain.

"Fractured. I'm fairly certain. You'll have to have an x-ray though." Cristina's face suddenly lit up. "Ooh, what's McDreamy gonna say about you throwing yourself in front of cars?"

"To save a small child!" Meredith reminded her indignantly.

"Oh. Yeah. He'll think you're all _heroic_. Geez, you two are really sickening, you know that? You make me want to vomit. Wait. Look here it comes." Cristina mimed retching. "I bet you'll get some award. I can see the headline now _Super Surgeon Saves Small….Spawn from….Squishing_."

"Cristina! Save the friggin' patient."

"Oh right yeah."

By this time Owen Hunt had joined them. "What have we got – Meredith why are you here? I thought Derek said you were ill?"

Meredith opened her mouth to reply but Cristina intervened. "No, she was saving toddlers from untimely deaths." Owen looked baffled. "Oh! And injuring herself in the process. How are you going to perform surgeries with a broken arm, eh? You didn't think of that when you martyred yourself did you? No. And who will be here on her own once again. Oh yeah, that's me."

"Yang, shut up and page Shepherd."

"I don't need Derek!" Meredith yelped.

"Not for you, Grey, for the patient," Owen replied, gesturing to the bloody head wound.

"Oh."

"And I want you to go have that arm seen to. Understand?"

"Yes Dr Hunt."

"Good. Now that's sorted, let's go about saving lives. I mean, that's what we're paid to do, isn't it?" He directed his glare at Cristina but whereas most would have cowered she just flounced away, pulling the gurney with her.

**Please please review!**


	2. Trauma

**Author's Note - Oh me goooosh! Thank you so much for the lovely reviews. I'm so glad you're enjoying this story already. I'm so excited about writing it so I thought I'd grace you with another chapter. I hope you all had a good Christmas!**

Meredith walked tentatively into the bustling ER, ducking out of the way of several racing gurneys and overeager interns. She almost got bowled clean over by a particularly clumsy one with large feet and a barrel-like torso. He barely slowed down to apologise because he was too caught up in the patient who was currently screaming like a banshee in front of him and thrashing around, limbs flailing wildly. She wasn't from the accident that Meredith had been involved in but she seemed to have been in some kind of fire. Ugly burns marred her smooth features. It wasn't surprising then that the trauma rooms were overflowing if they were battling to treat the victims of two separate incidents. In times gone by the young, inexperienced doctors probably would have been overwhelmed, floundering without a clue as to what to do. But now they worked like a – reasonably – well oiled machine: quickly assessing the severity of injuries, prioritising, treating without delay, working together. It was, to Meredith, a rather beautiful sight to see all these youngsters saving lives. And it was all thanks to Owen: the man with a plan; who thought carefully and practically. He was so cool under pressure, never flinching, never wavering, never wrong-footed. He truly was brilliant. She'd heard Derek and Mark once complain about how trauma surgeons were butchering Neanderthals. Personally, with his flaming red hair and booming voice, Meredith thought Dr Hunt looked a bit like a god commanding his subjects.

Pausing in the lee of an alcove so she wouldn't get trampled by the onslaught of people, Meredith tracked Owen's progress through the crowded trauma room. She saw him check over Ralph, nodding as Cristina quickly told him what she was doing and then he moved on to little Maisie who remained deathly still and pale on her gurney. Her tiny body was as rigid as a ramrod. There was no question that she definitely had a very serious head injury and Meredith felt her heart pang for the child who may never regain consciousness and the father who had done nothing wrong except take his children out to play in the snow.

She sorely wished she could help but she was currently in no fit state to do anything. The hot pain in her elbow was increasing tenfold. Quietly, she slipped into an unused side room and sat down on the bed. Gingerly, she tried to pull off her jacket but a lance of pain shot through her arm at the movement caused her to halt in her tracks, gasping. Closing her eyes and willing herself to fight through the agony, Meredith managed to carefully remove each layer of clothing with one arm. It was a difficult process but soon she was sat in just a check shirt. Tentatively, she rolled up her sleeve, wincing as she brushed her tender arm.

Immediately she knew Cristina was right. Although she'd tried to deny the possibility it was broken before, she now knew her elbow was done for. _Crap_. The skin around her elbow was massively discoloured and horribly swollen. It looked like the joint of her elbow had been removed and placed with a football. Meredith glared at the injury as if that would somehow make it disappear.

In fact she was still glaring sourly at her arm when the door opened suddenly and one of the interns popped her head in.

"Dr. Grey?" she said, nervously.

"What do you want?" Meredith snapped perhaps a little unnecessarily.

"Dr. Hunt told me to come and make sure you were okay. He said that I needed to exam you," the girl stammered.

Meredith glowered. "I'm fine. Thanks."

The girl looked terribly torn but Meredith couldn't find it inside of her to be nice and helpful, all she could think about was the fact she would be out of surgery for _weeks_!

"Go on. Scram," Meredith reiterated, reminding herself of Cristina as she did so.

The intern bolted.

Unfortunately, she returned several minutes later with a more determined look on her face. She pushed her glasses up her nose with her finger and puffed up her chest. Meredith raised an expectant eyebrow.

"Dr. Hunt said that if I did not examine you then he would kick me off the program and come in here 'and pin you down and treat you himself'," the girl declared, trying to sound confident and authoritative but failing miserably.

Meredith guessed she had to give her points for effort but that didn't mean she had to let her off easy. A thin sheen of sweat started to collect on the intern's brow as she stood there waiting for an answer but Meredith merely watched the sedate path of one of the beads that had collected between her eyebrows and trickled down her upturned nose. Finally she ended her suspense.

"Fine," she sighed. She didn't much fancy the prospect of being pinned by Owen Hunt. "I'll let you examine me but I'm telling you I'm fine."

Looking relieved, the intern hurried over to her bedside and began her inspection. Meredith hissed in pain each time her arm was prodded and poked. It took a lot of self restraint not to bash the stupid frizzy-headed kid round the head.

"I think you have a fracture," the girl finally said. Meredith just stared at her in exasperated disbelief. "I'll have to get an x-ray. Is there any chance you could be pregnant?"

"No," Meredith replied immediately and then stopped abruptly.

Hang on….when was her last period? She was never very good at keeping track of her cycle and so it was difficult to judge but she was fairly certain she hadn't bought any tampons in a very long time. In fact, if she recalled correctly, they were on the shopping list currently tacked to the refrigerator along with a hundred other things that they had run out of weeks ago and failed to replace.

"I'm not sure," she corrected herself, frown lines deepening.

"Oh….right….okay, well we should probably do a blood test before just to make sure-"

"I know the freakin' drill," Meredith interrupted feeling suddenly very uneasy. "I do work here, you know."

"Oh…yes…sorry Dr. Grey." The girl looked insanely flustered. "I'll be right back."

Five minutes later and Meredith was sitting alone on her self-selected hospital bed, a miniscule red dot in the crook of her good elbow and an almost unbearable pulsing pain in her injured one. She would have had pain relief but thoughts of potential pregnancy stopped her. Although she didn't know if she was pregnant she certainly didn't want to harm the fetus if she was. Therefore she was stuck in a horrible agonising limbo – both physically and mentally. Leaning back against the nasty papery pillow, she closed her eyes and willed the pain to abate and, as if by some kind of miracle, it did seem to die down.

* * *

Derek strode into the ER in search of his consult. In fact, he had two. One was a small girl with a suspected epidural hematoma and the other was a man with a similar diagnosis. Both would probably need emergency craniotomies. That was unfortunate both for the patients and for himself because he had been hoping to get back home earlier today in order to check on Meredith. Throughout the morning and into the afternoon he had found himself worrying about her every time he had a spare moment and all he wanted to do was go home and look after her. She had been so weak and sick when he left her and he felt so guilty but once again she'd forced him to go. She didn't want babying. Meredith _hated _being babied. She was very independent and stubborn, qualities Derek both admired and found terribly irritating in her. He understood that she could look after herself, like she had been for the last thirty odd years – as she always reminded him – but he just wished _she _would understand that he _liked _to care for her and make sure she was safe and well. It wrenched at his gut whenever she was sick or injured or...dying - those memories were still raw even after all this time – and he would do anything to ease her suffering.

He was dragged from his thoughts of Meredith when Owen Hunt called him over and he hurried across the ER to a bed where the patient was obviously crashing. Her BP was through the roof.

"We need to relieve the intracranial pressure here and now!" Derek immediately commanded.

"Can we not wait until the OR?" Cristina asked.

"No, look at her stats, she won't make it that far. Sterilise the area and get me a drill."

Derek worked quickly and accurately. Drilling holes in such a young child's head was never easy, especially if the parents were around, and he always had to grit his teeth when the drill bit first penetrated the bone. He was used to the sound of sawing and drilling bones but it still cut him deep inside when it was a child affected. A child's brain was still developing and if he was to do anything slightly wrong their development could be detrimentally affected. Fortunately, Derek was brilliant at his job and rarely had complications. That was the case with this one. Her BP was soon nearing normal and her heart rate had slowed right down. They could all collectively sigh in relief.

"Good work, Shepherd," Hunt said, gruffly, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks," he grinned, pulling off his gown and snapping off his gloves.

Just at that moment a geeky looking intern suddenly stumbled up to them, her eyes massive and round behind thick glasses. Derek blinked a couple of times. He could have sworn the interns were getting younger by the day. She looked about fourteen.

"Dr. Hunt! Dr. Hunt!" she called, obviously in some distress.

"Kalinowski? What's wrong?" Derek vaguely registered that some fear flecked Owen's usually perpetually cool blue eyes.

"It's Dr. Grey, sir; she's lost her radial pulse. I think a displaced bone fragment from the accident might have cut her artery and now she's bleeding into her arm!"

Derek's world seemed to freeze as the words penetrated his brain. Meredith in an accident? What accident? When? She was hurt. Badly? He could almost feel his stomach dropping into his shoes. A strange lumpy, heavy emotion came to take its place. Was it fear? Or shock? Or worry? Or a mixture of all three? He didn't know but his throat was constricting and thus he couldn't get any words out. All he could do was listen in muted horror.

"Have you done an arteriogram? Are you certain its cut?" Owen asked, urgently. "How long ago did she lose her pulse?"

"Er no, not yet, I didn't think…" the girl stammered, blinking rapidly, "…I'm not sure…I was chasing up her blood results before she went to x-ray."

"What? She hasn't been to x-ray? Why the hell do you need bloods?"

"Because….because…" Immediately, the intern realised that the patient's husband was present and she was meant to be constrained by confidentiality. Those were the rules. But Dr. Hunt was shouting at her and she needed to tell him because he was her doctor and… "It was necessary. She might be pregnant."

Another bombshell. Derek felt like he'd been hit in the chest.

"Derek!" Owen turned and caught sight of the stunned neurosurgeon, "Oh Christ, Derek…I meant to tell you but I thought her injury was fairly minor. I didn't think….I'm sorry….I…."

Derek ignored him and caught the intern on the arm. "Which room is she in?"

"Four."

He was off like a flash, a streak of dark blue scrubs. Owen sprinted after him and the poor, befuddled intern had no choice but to follow. The three of them flew into Meredith's room like corks from a bottle.

Catching sight of Derek, Meredith looked both relieved and dismayed at the same time.

"You got them," she breathed, mainly in relief.

"Yes," Kalinowski squeaked.

"Meredith," Derek whispered, his blue eyes creased with concern. "What happened?"

She smiled weakly at him. "I saved a kid and got hit by a car. Crappy luck, hey?"

Whilst they had been speaking, Owen had walked over to Meredith's side and was inspecting her arm with experienced eyes. At once Meredith felt slightly more at ease. Hunt knew what he was doing. He would sort this weird sensation out. Her fingers felt all strange and tingly and she was beginning to feel quite light-headed. _Blood loss_…her medical brain suggested.

"Why didn't you page me?" Derek asked but before Meredith could reply Owen interrupted.

"I think Kalinowski is right. You've managed to cut your radial artery. The blood supply has been cut off to your hand and that's why it's going numb." He tapped her fingers. "Can you feel that?"

"A little," Meredith replied, anxiously. She certainly didn't want to lose her arm. "The pain started to go away and that's when I got kinda worried."

"Well, you were right to be. You need surgery _now_. Do you want Teddy or shall I…?"

"Teddy," Derek said just as Meredith answered, "You." They stared at each other for a moment.

"I trust you Owen," Meredith finally said.

"But Teddy's cardio and I think…"  
"Owen is completely capable Derek," Meredith shot back. Derek quietened.

Owen nodded. He knew Derek didn't doubt his abilities. He just wanted to best for his wife. He knew he'd be the same with Cristina. But, surprisingly, Meredith had chosen him to save her arm and, essentially, her career. Owen Hunt wasn't daunted though, he didn't get nervous.

"Right, let's go."

"Wait, what about the blood tests?" Kalinowski piped up.

Everyone froze. Meredith looked horror-struck. Owen looked surprised, like he'd completely forgotten. And Derek felt that invisible punch to the gut once more.

"Do you think you could be pregnant, Meredith?" Owen asked, seriously.

"I…I don't….I don't know," Meredith replied, uncomfortably her eyes flicking to Derek.

"Think hard. This could be the life of your unborn child we're talking about."

Meredith gulped. "Well, I think I missed my period. And I've been really sick the last couple of days….in the morning. And tired. _Really _tired." Once again her gaze strayed to Derek. He merely stared at her. Not helpful.

"Sounds like pregnancy symptoms to me," Owen grunted. The cogs in his brain were turning rapidly. "How far along do you think you are? I mean, we have to go ahead regardless. Your life is our priority, Meredith. But obviously being in the first trimester is more dangerous for the baby."

It took Meredith a few moments to work it out. "I can only be six weeks at most." She spotted Derek's eyes widening in surprise.

"Well, its not great timing but we can wait for the labs to return to make sure you're pregnant and if you are then the anaesthesiologist will be very aware and very careful the fetus. We'll be _extremely_ careful Meredith."

"I know. I know you will."

Meredith nodded but inside her heart was already aching. The thought of losing this child – if she was indeed pregnant – frightened her to her core. She couldn't go through that loss again; the horrible gaping hole that it seemed to leave in her abdomen. No. She couldn't lose it.

She looked imploringly at Derek, hoping that he would help her. He still looked a little punch-drunk but he was slowly coming round.

"Mer," he said, gently, "You _need _this operation. Your BP is dangerously low and if we don't reconnect the vessel you could lose your arm. I _know_…" He paused, heaving in a thick breath before continuing. "I know we wanted this baby. I know we're trying and we were worried we couldn't conceive after what that woman said but I don't want you risking your life. You come first. You have to."

Seeing the softness of his duck-egg blue eyes and the tentatively encouraging smile on his face, Meredith knew she had to make the decision.

"Okay. Whether the test comes back positive or not, I'll have the surgery."

Owen nodded, his arms crossed over his broad chest. "Good. You made the right call, Grey."

* * *

The test was positive.

Meredith couldn't quite believe her ears when Owen told her and neither could Cristina who'd been keeping her company along with Derek who didn't seem to be enjoying her presence very much. He kept glaring at her every time she insulted Meredith or talked about whiny babies with ugly red faces.

"They look like rotten tomatoes, all squidgy and red and oozing from every orifice."

"That's disgusting, Cristina," Meredith had chuckled weakly.

"Babies are disgusting. Fact. I hope Owen never wants us to have one. I'm focussed on my career. I'm a _career woman_. That's my decision and he would do well to leave it the hell alone."

So when the red-headed man himself had stepped into the room with the results clutched tightly in his hand and informed them that she was pregnant, Meredith felt a mixed bag of emotions. Obviously there was happiness. Then there was the normal feeling of ineptitude. Then fear. And concern for the child's health during this surgery. In the end she decided she was hormonal and tried not to think about the tiny human growing inside her anymore.

Unfortunately, Derek hadn't looked as ecstatic as she had expected but when she questioned him about his lack of enthusiasm he'd shrugged and said he was more worried about her right now. Meredith guessed he was having several horrible cases of déjà vu and was battling through them. She truly was extremely sorry for what she'd put him through in the past. He was obviously emotionally scarred because of her. She tended to damage those around her. Crap. How badly would she damage this baby?

In the end she couldn't worry too much more about that because soon the anaesthesiologist was putting her under. The last thing she remembered was holding Derek's large rough hand before she slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

The wait was agonising. Derek had been refused entry to the theatre and now he just had to stand awkwardly in the corridor outside. Occasionally he would pace and occasionally he would sit on the floor, the curve of his spine pressed into the cool, hard wall but most of the time he just stood still. He just didn't know what to do with himself. His craniotomies had been taken over by Shadow-Shepherd - as Meredith liked to call him - and another neurosurgeon that Derek barely knew. However, he knew they were in safe hands.

Feeling anxiety building inside of him, Derek turned and pressed his clammy forehead against the wall, seeking relief from its lower temperature. It worked so well that he decided to press his whole body against the smooth surface.

"Yer know, huggin' walls is a sign of madness."

Derek knew the voice without even turning round. A small smile even crept onto his lips.

"Yer gonna answer me Derek Shepherd?"

"Bailey," he said, peeling himself off the wall and swivelling to face her.

"Derek," she replied, one eyebrow arched.

Whenever Miranda Bailey was present Derek felt a kind of warmth wash over him, soothing him; she was that kind of person: warm, calm and confident. You never doubted Bailey.

"I hear yer wife has got herself in a spot of bother?" Miranda stated bluntly.

"You could say that," Derek breathed, trying to focus on keeping himself together. He couldn't break down again. He just couldn't. But it wouldn't surprise him. Not only was Meredith's life potentially on the line but also that of their unborn child. His breath hitched in his throat just thinking about it.

"Y'alright, Shepherd?"

Derek's features creased. "Yeah. Just a bit…worried."

"I'm not surprised. The amount of damn scrapes Grey's got herself into would give any man white hairs. In fact, I'm blaming her solely for the grey hair _I _found this mornin' in ma comb." Bailey shook her head. "These interns. They really know how ter make me worry."

"They're not interns anymore, Miranda."

Miranda considered him for a moment and then said firmly: "They're still _ma_ interns."

Derek smiled. She really did care for them. It wasn't very often that a resident grew so attached to their interns and it was even rarer for them to go on caring once they were attendings. Perhaps it wasn't surprising though that this batch interns had had such a profound affect on Miranda Bailey because, after all, they had been a pretty unique set people. Derek falling completely in love with one of them was testament to that. They had all endured hardships and trials to get to where they were now but Derek had to say that Bailey had always stood by her interns through everything and that was something he really admired in her. It was because of her that they were the excellent doctors of today. Despite there only being three of the original five left.

"They'll always be your interns, Miranda," Derek said, sagely.

"Don't go all drippy on me, Shepherd," Miranda snapped, "I don't do that kinda silly soppiness. Now, tell me how Grey's doing. What was her condition goin' in? I heard she cut her radial artery?" Bailey's expression was serious now. She was enquiring after the health of both a colleague and a friend.

"From what I gathered, she got side-swiped by a car and shattered her elbow." Derek's face darkened at the thought of the pain she must have endured. "One of the fragments dislodged and cut her radial collateral artery. Hunt's in there now fixing it."

"Hunt?"

"Yeah."

"Why not Altman?"

"She wanted Hunt." Derek shrugged, helplessly. "And Altman was busy with one of the burns victims."

"Did you check for any nerve damage?"

"I didn't get the chance," Derek frowned. He was deeply troubled by the thought of his wife losing the use of her arm. Yes, it was important that Hunt saved the limb but what was the point if she couldn't use it? "We'll have to see after the surgery, before they start putting pins in to correct the bones."

"She's got a lot of surgery ahead of her," Bailey stated, concerned.

"Yes but that's not the worst part." He paused. "She's pregnant, Miranda."

"Pregnant?" Derek would have been amused by the squeaking tone of his friend's voice if he hadn't been so worried himself. He nodded.

"How many weeks?"

"Potentially six…I mean _six_, Miranda….that's like…a tiny bean-like human. It's growing _ears_."

The words caught in his throat and he rubbed a hand over his face, fighting back the multitude of emotions that were threatening to break forth. He covered his eyes, a little embarrassed at the tears collecting there. Suddenly, he was aware of something around his waist. Removing his hand, he looked down to see Miranda Bailey wrapping him in a tight hug. He was both stunned and comforted.

"Don't get used to this, Shepherd, it's the only one you're gonna get," she muttered into his scrub top. He hugged her tightly, reassured by the contact of another human.

"I appreciate it, Miranda."

They stood there for a couple of minutes before pulling apart. Derek swiftly wiped his eyes dry.

"I believe both she and your little baby will be fine, Derek. I truly do."

"I hope you're right."

* * *

And Bailey _was _right. As always.

Meredith came out of surgery with her artery repaired and – after a quick check from Derek – all the nerves in her arm intact. The only thing that worried Derek now was the health of their baby. The on call obstetrician who had accompanied Dr. Hunt in the operating theatre as a precaution thought she could just about detect a heartbeat that she described as a bit irregular but that could just be due to the trauma and stress on the mother's body. They were due an ultrasound now, before Meredith went back into surgery to have pins placed in her elbow to keep the repairing bones in place.

Derek and Meredith both waited impatiently for the obstetrician to arrive. It wouldn't be the same one as the one in theatre as she'd been called away for an emergency c-section. They didn't know who it would be.

Meredith's heart jumped when the door opened but she sighed when she caught sight of Alex.

"Alex, what are you doing here? We're waiting for a consult from OB."

"I _am _your consult from OB, Grey. I've come to check out your kid."

"What?" both Meredith and Derek gaped.

"But you're on Pediatrics with Dr. Stark."

"He chucked me," Alex shrugged, seeming a little put out. "So I returned to OB for a bit of practice. Feels like I've never been away. Now, do you want the normal ultrasound or the one that goes up your…"

"The _normal _one, Karev!" Derek interrupted swiftly. His blue eyes flashed warningly. He was not in the mood for this. He respected Karev – in some ways – but he wasn't very happy about him being responsible for checking the health of their baby.

"Okay, okay, suit yourself. The other one is better for getting earlier readings; I mean you _said_ you could be between zero and six weeks."

"I know but I think I'm six. I've worked it out," Meredith replied, looking nervous and vulnerable.

Derek placed a comforting arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple. "It'll be fine, Mer," he whispered in her ear. A stray hair tickled his cheek.

"_Please _let it be okay," she whispered but Derek didn't know whether she was talking to him or some higher power.

Alex went about setting up the kit. They were in a post-operative room so he had to find an ultrasound screen and wheel it in before they could begin. However, eventually he was completely ready and he sat on the swivel chair beside her bed.

"You ready to see your bean, Grey?"

"Yeah," she murmured.

"Right, pull up your top."

Meredith attempted to do what he asked but she couldn't move that easily due to her broken arm and so Derek quickly stepped in to help. She smiled gratefully at him.

"Right, you know the drill: this'll be cold and it'll feel a bit strange and-"

"Just do it, Karev," Derek ordered.

Nodding, Alex tried to warm up the transducer whilst smearing some of that weird, tingly gel on Meredith's abdomen. Her stomach seemed so flat right now; it was hard to imagine anything growing inside. She tried to imagine what it might look like in a few months time if this all went well. She'd have to buy new clothes; nothing would fit, oh urgh, would she have to buy those elasticized jeans, Cristina would mock her mercilessly…

"I've found a heart beat," Alex interrupted her trail of thoughts. Meredith's own heart leapt. "It sounds a little weird. Gimme a sec."

He shifted the screen towards him, trying to decipher what he was seeing. He moved the transducer around and few times slowly. Now that the screen was angled away from them, neither Derek nor Meredith knew what he was seeing. However, they could see his face. Initially it was confused, then worried and then he just look plain stunned. His jaw literally dropped.

"No _way_…" he breathed.

**Duh duh duuuuuh! Please please review!**


	3. Mister Freakin' Sunshine

**Author's Note - Thanks for all the reviews! Feel free to _constructively _criticise my fic because I'm always looking to improve and some of you mentioned you prefered the first chapter to the second but if you could be specific that would be great! I just wanna keep you guys entertained!**

"What?" Meredith exclaimed, "Tell me what the frick it is Alex!"

"See for yourself," he replied, his expression giving nothing away as he turned the screen towards them both. Meredith felt Derek leaning over her shoulder to get a better look. She could feel the thump of his heart against her arm.

It took her a moment to realise what she was seeing, mainly because she'd been expecting to observe a single black oval with a small white blob in the middle of it. Instead a sort of window of four black ovals each with their own miniscule white prawn nestled inside greeted her. Four amniotic sacs…four _fetuses… _

Meredith felt a bit dizzy so it was lucky she was sitting down. Beside her she heard Derek's sharp intake of breath and the grip on her shoulder tightened.

"It can't be. This is…insane," he whooshed, his voice sounding hoarse. "Four? Are you sure, Karev?"

"Hey, you can see for yourself, don't interrogate _me_!" Alex replied, holding up his hands. "If you give me a moment, I'll go and fetch my attending. This has just got a whole lot more complicated." He left.

Neither Meredith nor Derek acknowledged his exit because both their gazes were trained on the screen, brains whirring madly. Stunned didn't even begin to cover what they were experiencing. Meredith felt like someone had swiped the ground out from beneath her feet and Derek…Derek's mind was frozen in place, none of his thoughts seemed to be processing properly. They gawped in silence.

"Derek," Meredith finally whispered, "Is this really happening? Or am I asleep at home in bed with an insanely high fever?"

Derek stared into her green eyes for a few long seconds before kissing her gently on the forehead. "I think its really happening, Mer."

"I was afraid of that," she gulped.

At that moment, the door swung open and an obstetrician that neither of them recognised walked in. She was reasonably old though and looked experienced so they were fairly comfortable with her having the final say. Swiftly, she introduced herself as Dr. Lauren Swan. She smiled reassuringly at Meredith, blue eyes sparkling over the glasses which were perched on the end of her nose. Meredith was reminded of an English teacher she'd once had who always had silver glasses on a chain around her neck and always forget where she had left them. Hopefully Dr. Swan would be more on the ball.

"So….let's have a look, shall we?"

She picked up the transducer which Alex had dropped on the tray by the hospital bed and placed it on Meredith's exposed belly. Her hands were very wrinkled but Meredith couldn't help but think they looked rather soft too; they were caring, capable hands.

"Now, let's see if young Dr. Karev is correct," Dr. Swan murmured, more to herself than anyone else. Meredith winced a little as she pressed the transducer down surprisingly firmly. "Ah…yes…I see."

"Er…what…what do you see?" Derek asked with a mixture of anticipation and nerves.

"I see exactly what Dr. Karev and no doubt you, being experienced surgeons, saw: four amniotic sacs and thus four little fetuses. They look fairly healthy and I would guess them to be around six weeks. However, I understand you've been in an accident and are due an operation?"

"Yes but I've already had one. Will it….will it affect them?" Meredith asked, anxiously.

"Probably not," Dr. Swan reassured her. "Fetuses are resilient creatures. They have to be."

Meredith nodded, her anxieties abated slightly but then Dr. Swan continued, her face more solemn now. "However, I want you both to be aware that there is a possibility that this pregnancy will self-reduce this early on and that's not at all unusual so I would advise against telling anyone other than very close family and friends until next week when you will need to come in for another ultrasound. I'm afraid you have a tough path ahead, Meredith, but we'll be here supporting you every step of the way." She paused. "Do you have any questions?"

"How is this possible?" Derek asked, earnestly.

"You mean the multiple fetuses? Surely you, _Dr_. Shepherd..." She said his name with a hint of teasing, as if his title amused her. "…As our resident super-surgeon know how multiple fetuses are formed?"

Derek raised an eyebrow, ignoring her jibe. "But neither Meredith nor I have multiples running in the family."

"Older women are more likely to conceive multiples," the obstetrician smiled, genially.

Meredith did not. She'd just been called freakin' old. She was old and she was having four babies! Four tiny identical humans. This could not be happening. The thought of having one baby terrified her. The thought of four coming all at once made her want to puke with fear. Her plan had only ever been to have one with, perhaps, the safety net of two. What she meant by that was that if by accident she was to fall pregnant - by a condom bursting or her contraceptive pills failing - she wouldn't really mind. In fact, it might be nice for the first kid to have a sibling as a playmate. She'd never had anyone to play with when she was little and always felt like she'd missed out, especially as her mother was never there. Of course now she had Lexie for a sister but she really wished she'd never been an only child.

However, two had been her _maximum_. She was a surgeon for Christ's sake; she didn't have time for more children. They'd probably spend half the time with a nanny anyway. But, whereas she could have lived with leaving one child at a time alone at home while she got on with her career, there was no way she could leave four little babies alone. That would make her a monster in anyone's eyes – including her own. But how could she still be a surgeon and have four kids? It was an impossible feat and she knew it.

Her heart suddenly felt very heavy in her chest.

She knew that these quadruplets were both blessing and a curse. They were a curse in that her career would never be the same. She would probably never reach the top of her field; she wouldn't have the time. She wouldn't win awards. She wouldn't be world renowned like her mother. Her name wouldn't be mentioned in famous medical journals. But, perhaps, just maybe, that was a good thing. Although it was hard to see it now, she knew that in the long run this could have been the best thing that ever happened to her. Whereas she could have had one child at a time and wiped each one under the carpet like her mother did with her – mentally scarring her for life – now she was forced to look at her priorities. Did she _really _want to turn out like her mother? Did she really want her children to experience the same lonely existence she did? No. Maybe this was a sign because now they could never be alone. The choice was out of her hands. Perhaps, finally, she could go some way to repairing her broken childhood through her offspring.

Then again, was she really cut out to be a mother of four squalling, pooping infants? How the hell would she cope? She could barely look after herself as it was: eating pizza for breakfast, leaving the house in a hazardous mess, throwing herself in front of cars to save other people's kids. She wouldn't be able to do any of those things once she had children of her own. She would have to step up to the mark and be organised Meredith rather than perpetually incompetent Meredith. How on earth could she do that?

But…she wouldn't be doing it alone. This was not a task that would be solely undertaken by her. She had Derek. Derek the man that she loved and who loved her despite all they'd been through. The man who would do anything and everything for her and any children they had.

She looked over at him now and saw he was staring intently at the screen, inspecting each tiny white blob as if he was already trying to get to know his unborn children. He would make an excellent father. Wasn't it only this afternoon that she was imagining him pulling their kids along in a sled? It was just a question of whether she would make a decent mother.

"Now, obviously this is a high risk pregnancy and preterm labour is unfortunately very common so we will have to tread very carefully. The first major milestone to reach is 28 weeks. At that point we can be fairly certain they'll have no problem living outside the womb. However, if you could reach 30 weeks that would be even better. To maximise your chances of this happening, I would advise bed-rest at 20 weeks."

"Bed-rest?" Meredith yelped, recalling how bored out of her mind she'd been stuck in bed after her liver donation.

That would mean spending at least ten whole weeks in bed. And if she couldn't do surgery now because of her broken elbow until at least six weeks and she was already six weeks pregnant that meant…that meant she would only have eight weeks to perform surgeries before losing her career to the four hot little bodies inside her.

"Yes, that would be best for the babies. At some point along the line I would probably advise a transabdominal cerclage."

Derek frowned. It was awhile since he'd been in obstetrics so he wasn't really certain what the procedure entailed. However, glancing at Meredith, he saw that she did and she didn't look happy about it. Feeling a little stupid considering he was meant to be a world-class surgeon and everything, Derek reluctantly asked what a transabdominal cerclage was.

"They would temporarily remove my uterus in a kind a c-section and place a band around the top of the cervix. It has high rates of success, I've heard, at keeping the babies in longer so they'll have more time to develop but there's a rare risk of the death of one of the fetuses," Meredith said in a deathly quiet voice.

"That's correct but, as Meredith said, the loss of a fetus is very rare," Dr. Swan agreed. "You'll have to spend two nights in hospital and then a week recovering at home. Obviously there are risks but to ensure the survival of the fetuses, I believe it's the best option. Not that you have to make a decision yet. We would do there surgery around the two month mark and you can decide closer to the time."

"Okay," Meredith nodded but didn't say anything else on the matter because her brain was in turmoil. She didn't like the sound of even a slim chance of losing any of her babies.

"Good, anymore questions?" Dr. Swan paused. "No? Okay. Well, I'll leave you two alone now. I know it's a lot to take in but at some point you will realise how truly blessed you are." She smiled and left.

For a few seconds Derek watched her go. There was a burning question on his mind but he hadn't wanted to ask it in front of Meredith for fear of upsetting her now. However, he didn't think he could wait until they met Dr. Swan again next week so he told Meredith he was popping to the bathroom. She didn't look convinced – she always seemed to know when he was up to something – but she said nothing to stop him. Swiftly, he got up, kissed Meredith on the head and slipped out of the door.

Just down the corridor he caught up with the obstetrician.

"Dr. Swan?" he called and she halted in her tracks, turning. "Dr. Swan, how much of a risk is this to Meredith? I mean she's tiny. I'd be worried about her carrying one baby let alone four. Will her body be able to take it?" Derek asked, his eyes creased with concern.

Dr. Swan smiled kindly at him. "Derek, obviously this will be hard on Meredith both mentally and physically but if she eats plenty – probably more than she eats now – and healthy, takes her vitamins and is generally careful then she should be fine. If the strain seems too much for her I may advise an earlier bed rest but other than that I think her body will adapt to the change. Humans are generally very good at coping with change."

"Okay," Derek nodded, "Thank you."

"Just keep an eye on her."

"I will. Thank you Doctor Swan."

"I'll see you next week."

"Yes."

Derek bid her goodbye and hurried back into the hospital room.

Once inside, he sat down on the bed beside Meredith and smiled at her. His first proper smile since they'd found out the news.

"So," he began, "What do you think?"

"I don't know. I'm terrified. Obviously. Terrified I'll mess this up. Terrified we'll lose them. I don't think I can take losing another baby, Derek, let alone four," Meredith said. Her hands shook in her lap.

Derek smiled gently at her and placed his own hands on top of hers, stilling them. "We won't lose them. I promise you we won't lose them." He paused. "And as for messing up. I think we'll both mess up at some point but Mer, we'll fix it, that's what families do. If things go wrong we find a way to get round them."

"I'm gonna be a crappy mom," Meredith sighed, unhappily. "I mean what kind of role model did I have? How will I know what to do?"

"I'll be there with you every step of the way, Meredith. You know that. I haven't done this before either. We can struggle and learn together."

"But what about our jobs?"

"We'll think about that later," Derek replied, shrugging the issue off. "Right now we just need to think about you and those babies surviving at least seven months. Okay?"

"Okay," Meredith nodded and tucked herself into him, nestling her head between his chin and his chest.

* * *

Meredith had returned from her surgery with four new pins in her elbow. They would probably never come out. Now she was in recovery with a heavily plastered arm and quite a bit of pain. She'd refused a lot of the pain relieving drugs due to the fact they may harm the babies. Therefore she wanted something to take her mind of the ache and who better than Cristina Yang who had just popped in to harass her in Derek's absence. He'd left to catch up on some of the patients, particularly little Maisie who Meredith wanted to know about.

"_So_ how is the little parasite?" Cristina asked, flopping on the end of her bed.

"Parasite?"

"Yeah, you know, the ugly little creature growing in your uterus sucking out all your life force and making you a boring, tired shell of a human being until the day you die? I mean frankly, I might as well give up on you now. You'll probably never drink again without falling asleep and what's the point in me hanging out with that kind of person?"

Meredith arched an eyebrow. "Hmm...and there was me planning to offer you the post of godmother. I think I've changed my mind now."

"Godmother?" Cristina paused before her face broke into a massive grin. "So the tiny-tot is still alive then?"

Meredith nodded and couldn't help the equally wide, slightly tearful, grin that spread across her lips. Cristina immediately saw her being over-emotional and, rather than running a mile, swept her into a surprisingly firm bear hug.

"I really am pleased for you, Meredith," she whispered into her ear, "You really deserve this after all you and McDreamy have been through. You'll be fantastic parents. And you know I wasn't serious earlier, right? Silly and mushy and boring you may become but I'll still wanna hang out with you. You and your rugrat."

"Actually, Cristina," Meredith began, drawing in a large breath. Now was the time. "It's not just going to be one rugrat."

Cristina's brown eyes widened. "Don't you dare tell me you're having twins!"

"You're half right," Meredith replied, her watery eyes sparkling with amusement. This was strangely more fun than she expected, especially when she saw Cristina looked bewildered for a moment before realisation dawned on her face.

"Noo..." she breathed, stunned, "No freakin' way!"

"Yes freakin' way," Meredith replied, laughing.

"Quadruplets? You, Meredith Grey, my slightly unhinged and very twisted best friend, are having quadruplets?" She paused, contemplative. "I suppose it _is_ very you." She smirked.

Meredith frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well why have a conventional pregnancy when you can have one that's four times more dangerous for both you and the little squirts?" Cristina said, her eyebrows raised meaningfully.

"Geez, Cristina, this was hardly my choice!" Meredith exclaimed indignantly.

"Oh, I know, but complicated things tend to happen to you don't they?" Cristina took a second to think about her statement and then began counting off on her fingers. "You're a magnet for the difficult and the twisted. I mean, you met the man of your dreams only to realise he was running away from his insanely beautiful wife. Then you practically had to fight for his love but then the moment you didn't want him because you found an equally decent guy, he wanted you and then you went to a normal incident and nearly drowned. Not something that would happen to most people."

"That wasn't my fault!"

"I know it wasn't your fault. Like I said, crazy things are attracted to you. I mean McDreamy was shot by a madman and you...well you lost your baby. It's as if there's someone who's got it in for you, making things difficult on purpose for their own entertainment." Cristina shrugged. "I'm just putting my theory out there."

"Well, let's just hope these sadistic 'higher powers' leave me alone for this pregnancy," Meredith replied, sarcastically, "I mean, as you've pointed out I've already had more than my fair share of dark and twisty."

"I hope so too," Cristina agreed.

They both sat in silence for awhile.

"Ooh, moving onto lighter topics...what do you reckon you'll have? Four identical boys?"

"They'll be mini-Dereks," Meredith said, amused. She imagined four tiny little boys with perfectly coiffed hair and perfect white smiles and perfect periwinkle blue eyes.

"Wow, think of the gift you'd be giving to womankind."

"What?"

"Well, essentially you're multiplying McDreamy by _four_. You should be hailed as a goddess for that, surely? Women would definitely worship you."

Meredith blanched. "Can we not talk about my unborn children dating please?"

"Oh, all right, party-pooper," Cristina groaned. She scratched her head for a second and then jumped up off the bed. "Ooh! How did McDreamy react? I really wish I'd been there to see that."

"Much like me I guess: disbelieving at first and then too stunned for words. I'm thinking we probably looked like two stunned goldfish though you'd probably have to ask Alex for full details."

"What? You mean Evil Spawn knew you were having four...spawns - I don't think that's a word but I don't really give a crap - before I did? You're kidding me!" Cristina howled in annoyance.

"Sorry but he _was_ kind of doing the ultrasound."

"That sucks. And I'm guessing you're gonna make him godfather too," she huffed.

"Well, there are kind of four babies needing godparents and I don't exactly have a massive pool of people to choose from so yeah, probably Alex will be a godfather."

"That doesn't make me feel very appreciated. I may retract my offer to be godmother."

"Cristina, _I _offered _you_ the position of godmother and considering how you're currently calling my offspring parasites I don't think you're in a position to argue," Meredith replied.

"Fine," Cristina relented. "Alex can be a godfather."

"I'm glad we're agreed," Meredith grinned. "Now, as godmother to one of my children…"

"Just one?" Cristina interrupted. "I thought I'd get two at least…but only the good ones. The clever ones. I don't want dumb ones."

"_Cristina_!"

"Sorry."

"As I was saying, as godmother to _one _of my children, you'll be here every step of the way, right? You'll help me when I freak out and when I cry over not fitting into clothes and looking like freakin' Jabba the Hut and buying four sets of everything and being constantly asked why I'm buying four sets of everything and when things get complicated and...and just generally be there?

Cristina shook her head incredulously. "Did you really need to ask?" Meredith smiled. "I'll also be there when you decide to castrate McDreamy for doing this to you. I'll hold him down and you can get the scalpel…"

"Who's getting a scalpel for what?" Derek's voice broke in as he walked into the room.

"None of your business," Cristina replied sharply. She jumped to her feet; turning briefly to say, "Call me when you need me, Meredith," and then shot a meaningful look at Derek before flouncing from the room.

Derek stood there looking bewildered and all Meredith could do was laugh.

* * *

The first week went by in a flash and it wasn't long before Meredith and Derek found themselves once again in the presence of Dr. Swan but this time they weren't in a post-op side room but a private room in obstetrics. Also present with Dr. Swan was a maternal-fetal specialist called Lisa. Waiting for them to set up the ultrasound, and then find Meredith's uterus, was pure torture and both Derek and Meredith waited with baited breath, their hearts thumping wildly against their ribcages.

Dr. Swan moved the transducer expertly. "Aha. There's one baby. It looks perfectly healthy. Shall we name it A?"

Meredith nodded, not particularly caring. One baby was still alive. One down, three to go.

"And here's another baby. It looks fine too. We'll call it B. Baby C is beside it." As she spoke, Dr Swan noted down the temporary names of the fetuses and a few measurements. These would be useful for the future to ensure they were growing properly. "And finally there's Baby D, right at the bottom. It'll get squidged by its siblings if it stays down there."

They were all still there. Meredith breathed a huge sigh of relief. All the pent up emotions that had been building inside her all week suddenly dissipated and she felt a hell of a lot lighter. Beside her she sensed Derek relax, his arm was no longer tensed up around her shoulders. Although he'd tried to be comforting, his rigid body had betrayed him and only made Meredith more nervous. However, now they knew they had nothing to worry about. Well, for now. They'd got past the first hurdle but there was still a long path to travel along.

"Okay, now Lisa will tell you whether they are identical or not."

Lisa shifted in to get a closer look.

"Hmm….I don't think any of them are identical."

"None?" Meredith exclaimed. She wouldn't be getting her four tiny identical Derek's after all. Cristina – and womankind – would be very disappointed.

"No, I'm fairly certain they were formed from four separate eggs. They each have their own placenta and amniotic sac."

"Wow. When can we find out the gender?" Derek breathed, his eyes drinking in the sight of his four precious children who had grown so much in just a week.

"Not until your sixteenth week I'm afraid. It's quite a while to wait I know. In the meantime we need to discuss the advantages of a transabdominal cerclage," Lisa said, encouragingly. "In your case, I'd really advise you to have it, especially as you've suffered a miscarriage before. You'd have it at about 11 weeks and the babies' time in the womb can be increased by up to two weeks which is sometimes all it takes to ensure their survival. I know it seems scary to remove your uterus but these risks are minimal and the outcomes are truly fantastic."

Meredith stared at her for a while before saying, bluntly, "There have been no tests comparing women who have the treatment and those who don't so we can't be sure that the longer-term pregnancies are due to the TAC or whether they would have naturally been like that. I read up on it before I came."

"But Mer, surely its better to err on the side of caution?" Derek asked, gently.

"I'm not sure."

"If we refuse the TAC and the babies aren't born healthy then won't we always wonder whether we did the right thing?"

"I've had hundreds of successes," Lisa intervened, reassuringly. Her blonde hair bounced as she nodded encouragingly. "Complications are extremely rare and therefore you have very little to lose by undergoing this procedure."

Meredith felt her gut twist uncomfortably. Her medical brain was telling her to stop being such a sissy and go ahead with the most sensible option but her heart was telling her that if anything was to go wrong then she would never forgive herself. Surgery was never predictable, she'd experienced that enough times, and no matter how much anyone reassured her it was ninety-nine point nine percent safe, she wasn't sure she wanted to gamble with her children's lives on that nought point one percent.

Cristina's words from earlier weighed heavily on her mind. Cristina said she always attracted the bad stuff, the complicated, dark stuff that no one else ever had to contend with. She was a magnet for the unusual and Meredith felt certain that if she was to undertake this surgery she would be in the tiny percentile that lost a baby.

These thoughts plagued her as she became very aware that everyone was staring at her. Derek was giving her that stupid soppy look that, right now, made her want to slap him for being so patronising and making her feel like a stubborn child. He was a _guy_. He didn't understand this. He was a guy who was a surgeon and even though he was sensitive in some respects, his brain was naturally hard-wired to go for the quick fix, to find a resolution to the problem. He didn't consider the possibilities of this not working. Men didn't work like that. Meredith didn't blame him for it; if he wasn't programmed like that then he wouldn't be half as good a surgeon as he was. Not thinking about complications allowed him to go ahead without worrying and perform operations without getting nervous. But this was different. This was the lives of their kids and she didn't know if she could risk it.

"I'll tell you what," Dr. Swan piped up, "Why don't we give you some time to discuss it and we'll come back when you're ready. Does that sound okay?"

"Yes, thank you Dr. Swan," Derek nodded.

As the two specialists exited, Derek turned to his wife, placing a comforting hand on her arm. Her fine hairs tickled his palm as he gently stroked her soft skin with his thumb.

"Meredith, what's worrying you?"

Meredith looked at him and then burst out. "Everything!"

He looked a little startled. "Everything? Take me through 'everything'."

"I don't know," Meredith sniffed, feeling silly and pathetic. "I mean, I always attract the bad stuff. Bad stuff just _happens _to us. Cristina said I was a magnet for it. I must be just really unlucky or something but I don't _feel _like this surgery can go anything other than badly wrong. We only just found out we were definitely having quads, Derek, why can't we just leave them be? They're growing healthily, that's what Dr Swan said!" Meredith flung her arms up and then let them flop back down on her lap. "So why do we need to mess about in there?"

"We need to mess about in order to give them the best chance at life, Mer. You know babies do better inside the womb than out. The longer we can keep them in there the better."

"But…" Meredith murmured, not really knowing how to get her argument across, how to make Derek understand what she was feeling.

"But?"

"But I can't do it. I'm too scared of losing them."

Derek smiled at her for a few moments and then leant forward, drawing her small frame towards him and wrapping his arms around her. He was very careful of not bashing her damaged elbow as he pulled her into his chest and kissed her tenderly on the lips. Meredith reciprocated, running her hands through his beautifully full hair and imagining a little boy version of Derek with this same hair. Would she ever get that dream child? After a couple of seconds they pulled apart.

"That's why I'm here, Meredith, to support you and to tell you that you won't lose them. We have brilliant surgeons here at Seattle Grace who will undoubtedly perform the procedure flawlessly." He paused. "I'm also here to tell you to stop being a pessimist and to stop moping around feeling sorry for yourself. Bad things don't _always _happen to you. You have to remember _good_ things happen to you too. You may have drowned but you miraculously came back to life after essentially being declared dead. You found out you had a sister – two in fact. You have some brilliant friends who will do anything for you like performing emergency surgery on your husband. You helped set up a successful neurosurgery trial. You married me." Derek paused and grinned at that. "A _devilishly _handsome and insanely charming neurosurgeon, who also happens to be an eternal optimist. Which is a good thing considering you're so sure the glass is half empty. And…"

Meredith punched him on the arm. "I get the picture, Derek."

"I'm glad. Now tell me why you shouldn't have the surgery?"

Sighing at her husband's perseverance and her wavering will, Meredith finally conceded. "You know you're not meant to coerce patients into surgery against their will? But I'll make an exception this time. I'll have the surgery. Fine. Yes. You win Mister Freakin' Sunshine."

**Please review! Baby genders revealed next chapter! Place your bets now! :D**


	4. The Big Gender Reveal

**Author's Note – Whoop! Thank you so much for the reviews! :D They make me so happy and spur me on to write, which is what we all want, right? ;) **

**Some people have been asking Meredith's age considering she was called 'old'. That was meant to be a joke in that she's not old at all in normal life but in terms of fertility 35 is actually old. I have placed her around 33-34. I hope that's alright. **

**And without further ado, on with the chapter! :D **

It was a Tuesday lunchtime, two days after the second ultrasound, that Derek returned home in the pouring rain to a silent house. As he stepped through the door he immediately felt like something was off but he wasn't sure what exactly. Frowning as he dropped the latch behind him and took a few strides into the hallway, Derek's ears listened intently for any sign of Meredith. She was meant to be at home today. She'd decided not to go into work because _apparently_ she couldn't take another day of endless paperwork because of her arm whilst everyone else got to do surgeries. In fact, she was insanely jealous of Derek and would glower at him whenever he mentioned any type of surgery, no matter how interesting or innovative it was. In the end, he just stopped talking about his day at all so she wouldn't get upset. Being in a room with an enraged, hormonal Meredith was not a nice place to be.

"Meredith?" he called out into the quiet, dropping his keys in the dish on the dresser. He received no reply.

A sudden sense of foreboding gripped him and he felt his heartbeat quicken. Not bothering to shed his coat, Derek did a swift search of the downstairs of the house. Meredith was nowhere to be seen. There were remnants of her presence strewn about the place: half-finished neurosurgical journals, baby books and magazines, her laptop still open on the coffee table, a cup of orange juice…but Meredith was just absent.

Feeling more and more uneasy as he saw that her jeep was in the driveway and her handbag and house keys were still on the side, Derek realised that she couldn't have gone out. That meant she had to be in the house…but why wasn't she answering? Horrible, horrible graphic images began to swamp his mind and he had to try really hard in order to push them out.

"Meredith?" he called again, more anxiously. No reply.

He took the stairs two at a time and flew onto the landing. The first room he checked was their bedroom. Perhaps she was sleeping? She was carrying four babies so she was bound to be exhausted. It wasn't unheard of for her to have a nap at this hour. However, when he popped his head round the door he saw that the bed was empty and perfectly made-up. Meredith hadn't been in there for awhile. His pulse quickened even more.

He checked the bathroom. She wasn't there. He checked each of the rooms that their friends' rented but Meredith was nowhere to be seen. However, one thing that he did notice that was a little odd was that a lot of the furniture in each of the rooms had been shifted to the sides. In his haste, though, he didn't think anything more of it.

The final room he came to was Izzie's old room that was currently unoccupied. She had to be in here, didn't she? But what would he find on the other side of the door? His blood raced through his veins and pounded loudly in his head as he pushed the door open and walked in.

Meredith was lying sprawled on the floor and immediately Derek assumed the worst.

"Meredith!" he exclaimed, running across the floorboards towards her.

However, before he could reach her, Meredith sat up abruptly and spotted him.

"Derek?" Her green eyes were puzzled. "When did you get back? I didn't hear the door. I must have been completely out of it."

Derek just stared at her.

Meredith continued, oblivious, "I've spent the whole morning deciding which room the babies will have. I tried each one out like freakin' Goldilocks or something but none of them fitted. In the end I settled on this one…I mean, it's kind of sunny with that big window and I'm sure Izzie would love having the babies in her old room."

"And you were…._lying _on the floor because…?" Derek finally managed to get out, feeling a little breathless. Meredith didn't seem to notice.

"Oh, I was just looking at things from a different perspective, you know, seeing how things would look to the babies and stuff. I don't know what colour we should paint it or where we should put their cribs and stuff. Maybe yellow…or is yellow too obvious. I mean _everyone _paints their nursery yellow." She was running off on a tangent and realised it a second later. "Anyway, I moved all the furniture round so I could really get a feel for the room and where I could put things. Come to think of it, we really need to go shopping. We have nothing for the babies and we need to get started before I go on crappy bed rest. Oh, and I also need to get some new pants!" She plucked at her grey lounge pants. "I had to change into these because I couldn't do the button up on my jeans!"

Finally, Derek managed to exhale deeply enough to get his lungs working as normal and he ran a hand through his hair, realising that he was being completely paranoid and overanxious. Meredith was fine. She wasn't just about to keel over just because she was pregnant. She was stronger than that. He needed to get a grip.

Rubbing his unshaven chin, Derek dropped down and joined his wife on the floor, splaying his legs out in front of him. She remained beside him, cross-legged and very cute looking in her tatty sweats.

She frowned suddenly. "Why are you still wearing your coat?"

"Oh, I forgot to take it off," Derek bluffed - very badly - but Meredith didn't seem interested in pressing the issue. She was more interested in paint and décor and all sorts of very un-Meredith things. Derek didn't know whether to be concerned about her state of mind or not.

"What do you think about the colour? I was thinking a pale green, maybe, or sky blue and white."

After a moment's consideration of the situation, Derek finally decided that maybe he liked this new, positive side of Meredith. He leant back, emulating the horizontal position she had been in when he had found her, and placed his head in her lap.

"Personally, I like orange but blue could work…"

He looked up at her with a crooked smile on his face and was delighted when she offered him a big grin in return. She looked beautiful when she smiled; especially the big cheesy smiles that made her eyes sparkle. Her soft waves of hair formed a curtain around her face and made her looked even more gorgeous. Levering himself up on one elbow, he twisted in her lap and kissed her softly on the lips. She giggled against his mouth.

"We're not going to get very much done like this are we?" she murmured, running the fingers of her uninjured arm through his hair.

"Can't we leave it until tomorrow?" he replied, words muffled by his intermittent kisses. "I much prefer the direction we're going in now."

Suddenly Meredith pulled away, still chuckling. "_No_, Derek, I'm going in for surgery in two weeks and everything is gonna be really hectic. We can't do this now."

"Do what?" he asked, innocently.

"You know what, you charming swine," she laughed and batted him playfully on the shoulder. "Now, what colours? We'll have to go get them today."

"Don't we need to know the babies' genders before we decorate?" Derek asked, leaning back.

"We're going gender-neutral…"

"Sounds like fun but it might be a bit damaging for the kids," Derek interrupted, cheekily, deliberately stalling her. He received another ineffective punch for his trouble. "Ow!" he protested, lightly.

"This is serious, Derek. I'm hormonal and you need to listen or I will not be responsible for my actions. Okay?"

Derek nodded, trying to keep the grin off his face. Meredith didn't look amused.

"Right….so green, blue or orange?"

"How about we go for a light, neutral base colour and then use all those colours for the furnishings? We can make the curtains fun colours and the upholstery. That way when we need to change the colour scheme then it will be easy." Derek offered in an attempt to be useful. Abruptly, he leapt to his feet and began moving around the room. "I mean, the walls could be cream or a really pale yellow. Then we could have two cribs on this side and two on the other and a changing table here and a lamp…"

Meredith watched as her husband danced around the room, his mind awhirl with the possibilities. She knew he liked decorating and designing things and being creative. Not many people knew this side of Derek but he was actually quite artistic, a quality that one wouldn't expect in a surgeon but actually came in quite useful when trying to work out the best way of removing a tumour. He could think outside the box brilliantly. That's why she was kind of looking forward to seeing what he did with the nursery. At one point he'd wanted to design their dream house. That plan was still in the pipeline but it wasn't feasible right now what with the babies on the way. Maybe when they were older Derek would be able to fulfil his ambition of building them the perfect house on the hill. In the meantime, Meredith could keep him entertained with the nursery and keep his mind off the worrying that she knew he constantly did about her. She reckoned he would get an ulcer if he kept stressing like he did.

"And, if you don't mind, I thought I'd paint a _massive _monkey head right here in the middle of this wall and then put a climbing frame with a death slide and a paddling pool here…what do you think?" Meredith came round from her thoughts to see Derek standing above her with his arms crossed over his chest. His dark eyebrows were raised.

"What? Yeah, sounds great."

"You weren't listening at all, were you?"

"Er…yeah?"

"So you don't mind about the massive monkey head and the death slide then?"

"What? A massive monkey head? What are you on Derek?" Meredith grinned, realising she'd been caught out in her daydreaming.

"Yeah, that's what I thought," Derek said, teasingly, grabbing her hand and pulling her too her feet with ease. "Come on, let's have some lunch."

"You won't be able to do that for long. The lifting me up, I mean," Meredith lamented, dusting herself down and sighing. "I'll be like a whale."

"My very _beautiful_ whale," Derek replied, kissing her.

"Ergh….sometimes you're so soppy it makes _me _want to vomit," Meredith said, laughing, "I see what Cristina means. Speaking of which, I just realised I was meant to be going out with her this afternoon."

"You mean I came home early to keep you company for nothing?" Derek pretended to look mortally offended as they left the newly christened nursery and made their way downstairs.

Meredith had the grace to look apologetic before suggesting, "Er…you can come too."

"Thanks but I think I'll pass on a day out with the twisted sisters. What will you be shopping for anyway? I don't want you to get everything without me."

As he spoke, Derek began collecting some bread and ham and other bits and pieces for lunch. He ensured that they had all the major food groups on the table, packed full of nutrients that both Meredith and the babies would need. Dr. Swan's advice weighed on his mind. He was in charge of making sure she ate enough and looked after herself. So far it hadn't been that difficult to get Meredith to eat more as both the previous nights she'd woken up at various times throughout the night to make herself a small meal – and when he said small it tended to be half a loaf of bread with peanut butter - because she was starving. Derek had been stunned at how much she could fit in her tiny body.

Once he collected everything he placed it on the table and the two of them sat down.

"Oh, just some baby outfits. Cristina's taking her job as godmother very seriously….in that she's determined to outdo Alex and prove she's the best godparent. I think she's expecting an award at the end of it or something."

"Right, okay," Derek laughed, helping himself to a slice of wheat bread. "Do you want to get some paint whilst you're out then?"

"I guess. We're saying cream or pale yellow, right?"

"Yep."

"Alright, I can do that." Meredith nodded as she popped a cherry tomato in her mouth and felt it burst under the pressure. Sweet, acidic liquid flooded her tongue. "But, if they have those stupid names like _Sunlit…wheatfield _and _Honey golden… Sahara desert _then don't expect anything. It'll be cream or yellow and that's it."

"Okay." Derek smirked. He kind of wished he was going on this little outing but the presence of Cristina Yang _and _the fact that he had some phone calls to make put him off. "I'm going to wish you luck with that now."

* * *

Meredith had left with an overeager Cristina over an hour ago, the two of them planning to hit the local shopping mall and all the baby shops it contained. When his wife had left she had been looking rather bemused by the whole affair, especially as Cristina was practically dragging her out of the door. As she left, she mouthed a pitiful 'help me' to him but he merely waved cheerily at her and closed the door, leaving her to spend the rest of the day with her extremely competitive, warped best friend.

Now he was alone, Derek picked up the phone and dropped onto the couch. It sunk a little under his weight, the springs protesting noisily. They would probably need to invest in a new couch as well as all the baby things; this one was on its last legs. Drumming his fingers on the patterned arm, Derek dialled a number and waited.

"Hello?" the voice said at the other end of the phone.

"Hi Mom, its Derek." Derek smiled immediately upon hearing her familiar voice.

He heard the excited intake of breath on the other end of the phone which reminded him that he really needed to call more often. He felt especially guilty because it had taken him this long to phone his family and tell them he was going to be a father. Meredith had made him swear not to do it until the second scan - even though she'd told Cristina straight away which Derek thought was a little unfair - but he hadn't argued. Then he'd been so busy after the ultrasound that he hadn't had time to phone. He hadn't wanted to rush the call after all; he wanted to have the time to talk to his mom and now seemed like the perfect opportunity.

"Derek! I can't tell you how lovely it is to hear your voice," Carolyn said, emotion tingeing her words.

"The same to you, Ma," he said, still smiling.

There was a slight pause as Derek tried to get his words together in order to tell his mother the news but she got in there first.

"So, will you be coming to our summer get-together in July or are you going to be 'busy' again? I understand you and Meredith have your own life in Seattle but we would all love to see you both. You know, I don't think I can cope with seeing my son once every two years. If you carry on like this I might have to do another surprise drop in."

"Ma, I'm sorry," Derek sighed. He should have known she would be a little bit annoyed at him, especially as they didn't manage to make it for Thanksgiving or Christmas. "You know we _are _really busy. It's not just an excuse. I have my work and Meredith's still training, she needs to get all the hours she can. Having said that, I think we might have a bit more time now."

"Oh, why's that?" Carolyn asked in her usual flippant manner.

"Well, a couple of weeks ago Meredith had an accident."

"An accident!" his mom repeated sounding horror-struck. "Derek! Why didn't you call us? Is she alright?"

"Ma…Ma, calm down. That was a bad way of explaining my news. I'm sorry."

"What news? What are you talking about? Derek, is she alright? I don't think I could cope with her being hurt, not after what happened to you…"

Derek had to but in quickly, practically shouting down the phone. "Ma! She's fine! Well, she broke her elbow but other than that she's great. We're both _great_."

"Oh…then why…I don't understand?" Carolyn sounded very perplexed.

Derek sighed, annoyed at himself for making this more difficult than necessary. He ran a finger along the hem of a cushion, feeling the rough texture of the fabric against his sensitive skin and tried to sort out his words again.

"Let me start again," he finally said. After a moment's pause, he took a deep breath and explained, "Meredith had an accident and broke her elbow. Because of that she had to have an x-ray and because of that x-ray she had blood tests and we found out she was pregnant."

"Pregnant!" Carolyn cried. Her voice was filled with complete and utter delight. "That's fantastic, Derek. Oh, I knew it was only a matter of time before you became a father.

"Yes, Ma, she's pregnant but that's not all."

"Oh?"

"Ma…" Derek couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as he broke the news. "Meredith is having quadruplets."

There was stunned silence on the other end of the phone. Derek could imagine his mother processing his words, the cogs turning rapidly in her brain. In fact, he could almost predict how long it would take for her to…

"Oh, _Derek_. That's _incredible_!"

"Yeah."

"_In_credible," she breathed, still sounding a little astounded. Derek guessed that must have been how he reacted but it was so much funnier witnessing the astonishment from this side. "Quadruplets? Good god! I don't think I've even seen quadruplets in all my time. How far is she along, Derek? Are things going well?"

"Um…she's almost eight weeks and things are progressing as normally as they can be. It's all a little bit overwhelming but Meredith is doing great. She's out shopping for baby clothes at the moment."

"Yes, with that many to feed, clothe and change you'll need to get started. In fact, I'm sure the girls have lots of old baby things we can pass onto you. Well, Kathleen does anyway, Dillon, Angela and Jenny past that stage years ago and Bobby is almost three."

"Yeah, that would be great."

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm just so excited for you. You finally get to be a Dad. I know you'll be brilliant. You _and _Meredith will be brilliant. Those kids are lucky. Hey, and with four of them maybe you'll reconsider relocating to New York. I wouldn't mind helping out…"

"No, Ma," Derek refused, immediately, "We're staying put. We'd love your help and we'll try and make it to the summer gathering but we're staying in Seattle. We've got a house here and we've been picking out the colours for the nursery."

Carolyn chuckled on the other end of the phone. "I was just teasing, Derek. I know you're settled. Now, can I tell your sisters?"

Derek grinned. "I was hoping you'd say that. I don't think my ears can take four phone calls with four separate shrieks."

"Oh, Derek, they would love to hear from you sometime though; maybe on another occasion. Just remember they do care about you and want to know how you're doing just as much as I do. You haven't even met Nancy's youngest one, have you? His name's Harrison. Your little ones will all be about the same age, won't they?"

Derek felt a jolt of guilt when he realised he hadn't even realised that his sister had had her baby. He was so out of the loop that he didn't know he had a new nephew. His sister finally had a boy to go with all her girls. In fact, Derek felt slightly sorry for the kid, having four sisters; Harrison would be in exactly the same situation he'd been in. He'd loved his sisters dearly – still did – but growing up had been rather crazy, especially after his father died, and he always wondered how he'd survived it. In fact, he really hoped that at least one of the quads was a boy because then he'd finally have some male company.

"Tell her that I'll definitely come and meet him at the summer get-together. I _promise_."

"Good. Oh, I've just realised I'm meant to be picking up Barnett from his karate lesson! I'll have to cut this catch up short, I'm sorry, love."

"That's fine. I love you."

"I love you too and I want regular updates. You got that, Derek?"

"Loud and clear, Ma."

"Bye."

"Bye."

After hanging up, Derek leant back on the couch and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. It was nice to have finally told his mother about Meredith's pregnancy. He was so proud of the fact that he was about to become a father and therefore he'd desperately wanted his ma to know. Now that she did, he felt a warm glow form inside him.

* * *

Over the next two weeks, Meredith and Derek began to decorate their nursery with the help of Jackson, Lexie and April who had returned from vacation. Each of their reactions to Meredith's pregnancy had been different. Avery had looked a little surprised and then immediately enquired as to whether they would have to move out. This had then resulted in a small argument between Derek and Meredith; reminiscent of the one they had when Derek first moved in, about whether they should have so many 'waifs and strays' staying in the house. Once again Meredith won, mainly because she pointed out they would need all the help they could get with four needy infants and having three in-house babysitters could be no bad thing. Lexie had been ecstatic about being an aunt, especially when she realised it would be to four little nephews or nieces. April had been thrilled too but then she'd started asking Meredith about all the details of her pregnancy and the complications because she was considering neonatal surgery as her speciality and Meredith had eventually had to tell her to just shut the hell up.

Everyone in the house was clued up in terms of knowing when Meredith was having a mood swing so they knew when to bother her and when not to. And, to Derek's surprise, the three lodgers had learnt pretty quickly when he needed time alone with his wife without all of them getting under his feet. They even ran errands to the shops when Derek wasn't at home such as fetching whatever was Meredith's current craving. These ranged from strawberry ice-cream to anchovies on pizza.

The nursery was now practically finished. The walls were painted and the white cribs were in. Now all they needed to do was decide on a theme for the curtains and mattress covers. Derek wanted jungle-themed and Meredith was vying for dinosaurs because she'd seen some lovely patterns in the local fabric shop. Neither was willing to compromise so they decided to wait until they knew what the gender of the fetuses was before finally resolving the feud.

Meredith went in for surgery on a rainy Monday afternoon and was out again in just over an hour. Dr. Swan informed her that it had gone really well and that, in fact, she had the perfect anatomy for this kind of procedure. Meredith didn't know whether to be flattered or not. After it was over she felt really pathetic for worrying, but where her babies were concerned she couldn't afford to cut corners, because it had been so simple. She learnt that really, for mothers expecting multiples, TAC was a procedure as common and relatively simple as an appendectomy. The only worry would have been if she'd grown too big since the scheduling of the surgery four days ago and then they would have had to do a vertical incision rather than a horizontal one. Fortunately, she was still small enough.

Derek had been there with her the whole time and the two of them had gripped tightly at one another's hands when they saw the before and after ultrasounds that showed that their babies were still alive. They even got to hear the heartbeat of each individual baby and watched them move around in Meredith's uterus for almost an hour whilst she was in post-op recovery. It was so strange to Meredith to imagine that these little white creatures would one day be living, breathing humans. Her mind boggled at how quickly they were growing already. Baby B was the biggest by quite a margin and Meredith definitely imagined it to be a boy. Baby A and C were relatively the same size but Baby D lagged behind his or her siblings by quite a margin. The maternal-fetal specialist suggested it was receiving less blood via its cord than the others because it was being squashed at the bottom. She suggested that they should keep a close eye on it which only served to worry Meredith.

After her surgery, Meredith spent four days in the hospital and had several interesting visits. The first was from the Chief who had undoubtedly either heard of her pregnancy and its complexity from Derek or the Seattle Grace gossip mill. She didn't think there was a single person in the damn hospital that didn't know she was pregnant. Whether they all knew it was with quadruplets was another question.

A quiet, tentative knock on the door had signalled his arrival.

"Come in," Meredith had called out, feeling a little tired and a little sore from her incision. She'd been using the morphine pump a like a drug addict and so it was having no effect now. She'd cursed Derek for not letting her up the dosage.

"Meredith…hullo," he had said, looking rather awkward as he stood in the doorframe.

"Chief," she'd replied, surprised by his presence. That was the only word she seemed to manage as she opened and shut her mouth uselessly.

"I…er…" He had scratched the back of his head. "Just came to…you know…check on you. How are you feeling?"

"I'm good, thanks," she'd smiled, feeling rather uncomfortable herself. They had never been very good at these moments, whatever 'these moments' were.

"I'm glad." The Chief had paused and took a cautious pace into the room. "Look, Meredith, I just wanted to say that you can take as much time as you want off for these babies. You and Derek are….important to me and I want you be able to look after your family and have time to raise them. You don't need to worry about losing your place on the program. I'll make sure there is always space for you."

"Oh." Meredith had blinked, amazed. "Thank you, Chief."

"That's alright. I'll…er….just be going. Take care of yourself."

And then he'd left, just like that.

However, her favourite visit had probably been from Mark who'd ducked into the room when Derek wasn't there.

"How's my favourite _pregnant _dirty mistress?" The grin on his face was megawatt; it could have bust the filament in a light bulb.

"Mark, how lovely to see you," she'd replied, smiling back, already amused by his mere presence. Mark just generally made her laugh. She could tell why he was Derek's best friend and _also _why he could get any woman he wanted in bed with him. He was funny, smart and gorgeous. He ticked all the boxes. But, fortunately, they just weren't her boxes.

"Where's your guard dog?"

"_Derek's _getting me a soda."

"Oh, so you taught him fetch too? He _is _a clever boy. Don't forget to give him a treat when he gets back, if you know what I mean." He'd winked playfully at her. Meredith had refrained from flirting back. She knew it was just as friends but she could just imagine – with her luck – Derek walking back in at the worst moment. "Does he have a bone for you…"

"Mark!" Meredith had admonished, swiftly, but a chuckle escaped her lips.

Mark had grinned. "You see? You see what I'm doing with the mutt jokes here? I think it's pretty good considering you're having a…_litter_! Ya get it?"

Meredith had arched an eyebrow. "Yes, I get it Mark."

"I'm glad. I put a lot of work into setting that gag up."

On the Friday of that week, Meredith finally returned home and resumed her 'nesting' as Derek so fondly called it. She just called it gathering a load of crap that the babies would need. They had a few things through the post from Derek's relatives and April had very kindly knitted four little sets of woollen hats, scarves and booties. They were all yellow, a colour Meredith was growing to loathe because of its neutral-ness. It just reminded her of the fact that they didn't know the babies' genders yet. She was counting down the days until she no longer had to call the tiny-tots 'it'. It was highlighted in her calendar with a giant red star.

* * *

And _finally _the day arrived in her sixteenth week. Meredith couldn't sleep at all the night before. She just tossed and turned and annoyed the hell out of Derek. The insomnia wasn't just because she was excited but also because of the fact her belly was growing larger by the day and now she could never get comfortable. Beside her normal wardrobe was a fast growing _alternative _wardrobe for all her maternity clothes. She couldn't believe she was changing size so rapidly from day to day. As a person who found it _hard _to put on weight she was a little astounded. It was especially unnerving as she was growing seven weeks ahead of the normal singleton pregnancy and so at sixteen weeks she resembled a normal 23 week expectant mother. In other words she looked like the whale she'd predicted and she wouldn't stop growing.

"Come on, Derek, get your lazy butt out of bed!" Meredith ordered, shaking him so that he would wake up. Her appointment was in an hour and she wasn't missing it.

"Urgh…" he murmured into his pillow.

"Stop sleeping and get up. We need to find out the sex of these kids! It's actually killing me."

"I've just got back from my shift," he yawned, sleepily and turned slightly to look at her through bleary blue eyes.

"Yeah, I get it; you were working _so _hard whilst I was sleeping. and doing nothing. I don't give a crap, Derek. If we could swap positions, I would _happily _and I wouldn't be such a damn whiner about it. You try carrying four friggin' babies in _your _uterus! I pee four times in an hour and I look like an elephant…"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Derek yelped, throwing the covers off and jumping out of bed in a move so fast he almost fell over.

Meredith grinned. Whenever she started ranting and getting angry, Derek would leap into action and do whatever she wanted. It was quite a useful tool. His fear of her hormones was pretty hilarious.

* * *

They made it to Seattle Grace obstetrics with plenty of time to spare and Meredith plonked the still half-asleep Derek down in an empty plastic chair and went to sign in. Once she'd done that she came back and sat beside him. However, she couldn't sit still and kept jiggling like an impatient child in her seat. This was _it_. She would find out if they were having four little Dereks or four little hers – which she knew she would hate – or some other mixture. The anticipation was killing her.

In the last few weeks she'd become aware of Alex taking bets on the sex distribution of the fetuses. He said he wasn't doing it to make money but that he was just curious to see if people guessed right. She highly doubted there was no financial gain for her friend but she was interested to see what people thought. Most people had betted on an equal split which was an idea she really liked the sound of. Two of each would be perfect.

And they were about to find out if the gamblers were right because her name was called out. Nudging Derek, she climbed to her feet with a little bit of a strain and then waddled slowly towards the door. She hated her waddle. Derek said it was endearing but it just made her feel even more whale like.

"Hello, Meredith," the maternal-fetal specialist, Linda, smiled as she stepped into the room, "Dr. Swan can't be here today I'm afraid so you're stuck with me. Where's Derek?"

"He's here," Meredith began and then turned, realising he hadn't entered the room with her. Sighing, she asked the doctor to give her a moment before marching out of the exam room and dragging a bewildered Derek back. "He was asleep."

"Ah…I see," the specialist chuckled, "You're going to have to get used to lack of sleep with these four, Doctor Shepherd."

"I know," Derek replied, blinking wearily.

"Now, I want you both to be aware that these are early readings of the genders and they could be wrong. However, just to give you an idea of how accurate I am, I've only been wrong once in all my twenty years."

"Wow," Meredith said, "That is good."

Linda asked her to take up her top and Meredith complied, exposing her distended abdomen to the world. It looked oddly round and smooth. There were already awful red stretch marks marring the previously unblemished surface and she sighed. Her previous life with a taut, tanned stomach was officially over.

The gel was cold as Linda spread it on her skin and Meredith let out a small gasp. She knew the cold was coming, she'd had several ultrasounds by now, but the temperature always surprised her. Derek looked a little alarmed by her reaction but Meredith waved him away. He was always overanxious.

"Right, so, let's establish they're still healthy. Yes, their heart rates and tones are great. Also they're all growing at a steady pace so that's good." She looked over at Derek – who seemed to have finally woken up – and Meredith and saw their eager faces. "But I'm guessing you really want me to shut up and tell you the sex, am I right?" She laughed because she was used to the one track minds of expectant parents.

Gently, she moved the transducer over to the left side of Meredith's round stomach and paused. She leant over and inspected the screen carefully.

"Baby B is a…boy."

Derek exhaled deeply. He would _finally_ have a fellow male in his family.

"Baby C is…also a boy."

She moved the transducer to the other side of Meredith's uterus.

"Baby A is a…girl."

Derek and Meredith waited with baited breath for Linda to reveal the gender of their fourth and final child.

"And Baby D is….also a little girl. Your littlest baby in fact."

Equal numbers! Both Meredith and Derek couldn't have been happier.

**There you have it. The majority of you betted right. Pity it wasn't for actual money, eh? Aha. :D Please, please review! **


	5. Family

**Author's Note - Thanks once more for all the encouraging reviews! I am planning to carry on the story past the birth for those of you wondering. Oh, and the birth might even be next chapter :O but you'll have to review to see! Hint!**

**Have a great New Year! **

They went for a jungle theme in the end. Meredith reluctantly agreed that although dinosaurs weren't exactly aimed at just boys, they did have a slightly male air about them. A jungle was neutral, as Derek pointed out, and it was warm and fun and it incorporated the greens and oranges and blues they wanted. Thus they travelled around several fabric stores in order to find the perfect material. Eventually they found one with a lovely mixture of giraffes, elephants, tigers and lions – the four main staple figures of the animal kingdom – dotted among various leafy trees. There was even a multicoloured parrot or two thrown in for good measure. Derek glibly pointed out that only tigers actually lived in the jungle and Meredith instantly told him to stop being smart and buy the damn fabric.

Their house was definitely filling with baby detritus. Jackson was always complaining about the boxes that arrived each day blocking the hallway. At one point he'd even caught his foot in a baby gate that Derek had ordered – perhaps a tad prematurely – and fallen down the stairs. Fortunately, he'd gotten away with a few bumps and bruises but he hadn't spoken to Derek for a week.

People that Meredith swore she didn't even know kept giving them things too. Word had spread around Seattle Grace – embarrassingly – and people had sprung into action, throwing baby items in their direction. Half the crap was literally crap and Meredith reckoned they just wanted palm it off on someone else but some of it was pretty good stuff. They received a mountain of baby clothes which was now in a pile in the corner of the nursery, several hundred bibs and bottles and a variety of vibrant plastic toys. What confused Meredith most about these very generous donations was the fact that surely everyone at the hospital knew Derek earned around a million or so each year. Between his salary and Meredith's inheritance they were pretty much set for life. She even kind of felt bad for accepting these gifts from people.

One thing they had managed to acquire was a four seat stroller that Derek was very proud of. Meredith didn't understand why men always thought the bigger something was the better it was and why gadgets interested them so much but Derek had spend hours inspecting this quad-stroller once it arrived, working out all its functions. Even beforehand, he'd spent ages deciding which was the best one online before purchasing it. Meredith had just been stunned there had been a big enough demand for quad-strollers for there to be a competitive market. That meant other freaks like her did exist!

In a spurt of inspiration and surprising – uncharacteristic - organisation, Meredith decided that everything possible they bought for the babies should be in four different colours. That way they could always determine which pacifiers, which bottles and which bibs belonged to each child. They chose purple, blue, orange and green because they seemed the most easy to get hold of. Derek joked that if they managed to keep this colour-scheme up they could be buying cars of those colours in sixteen years.

The final items they had to invest in were four carriers that would be needed to bring the babies back from the hospital. Derek found it hard to imagine the day when they would finally be able to bring for little newborn babies back with them and actually place them in their carefully prepared home. Meredith would have to have a caesarean delivery and the quads would undoubtedly come early so they would have to spend at least a few days in NICU if not more. Obviously, both he and Meredith _were _worried about the premature birth but they knew how good the doctors in the NICU were and so that eased their fears a little.

They had all this organised by Meredith's nineteenth week, the week before she would have to go on bed rest at home, and they were planning on flying to New York so Meredith could meet Derek's family for the first time. She was massively nervous, both about flying with the babies and about meeting Derek's very large family. However, Derek had informed her that the second trimester was the safest to fly in and Dr. Swan had also backed him up on the issue. Meredith couldn't help but feel slightly ganged up on but she had submitted eventually.

They packed on Sunday night and caught the plane early the next morning. By nine o'clock they were in the air.

Meredith chewed her lip, anxiously, looking out of the window. "Derek," she said, turning to him, "You're not expecting me to be good at this, right?" Her eyes were wide and worried.

"No," Derek replied, softly, stroking her arm, "I _know _families aren't your thing. I'm just thrilled you agreed to come for me. If at any time you feel overwhelmed just shout, okay?"

"Okay," Meredith nodded, sipping at her juice, "I'll bear that in mind. Shall we have a code word?"

"A code word?"

"You know, code for 'get me out of here!' like in the movies."

"Such as?" Derek asked, his eyebrow arched.

"Pickles."

"_Pickles_? Are you sure that's not just your latest craving?"

"Nope."

"Okay. But I promise you that you won't need it, Mer. It'll be fine."

"I'll believe that when it's over."

* * *

The car pulled up outside massive townhouse in New York. It was a red-brick terrace and was several floors high. Meredith knew the Shepherd children had done well for themselves since they all became doctors but had worked hard. She recalled Derek telling her they had come from a more humble, working class background. This was Nancy's home apparently that she shared with her husband Charles. Meredith wondered whether it looked anything like the house that Derek had shared with Addison when they lived here as man and wife. If Derek had never discovered Addison cheating then would they still be there?

Once they had drawn to a halt, Derek jumped out of the car and hurried round to her side where he opened the door. If it had been any other time Meredith would have yelled at him for being so damn old-fashioned but as it was, with her massive belly, she needed all the help she could get climbing from the car. Derek caught her newly healed elbow and pulled her up. She managed to lever herself onto her feet with a grunt.

"This is it then?"

"Yep, Nancy's house."

"Am I allowed to call pickles now?"

Derek grinned. "Mer, with haven't even started yet."

"I know but I'm about to set foot in your sister's lair with little prospect of getting out alive. This is her territory. She'll rip me to pieces."

"She won't," Derek promised, kissing the top of her head and sliding his arm around her waist in order to help her up the steps to the front door. Meredith resisted.

"She will!" she whined, "Last time we met she called me a slutty intern."

"And now we're married and you're having my children and she has no grounds on which to call you that. You're my wife now. It's official."

"Hmm….fine," Meredith finally conceded, catching the handrail and hauling herself up the first step. "But there better be plenty of food to keep my mind off her."

"I assure you my mom is a brilliant cook."

"Good."

Derek paused in his tracks. They were half way up the steps. "But you've got to promise me something, Meredith."

"What?" Meredith asked with trepidation.

"_Please _don't call Nancy McBitchy."

Meredith couldn't help but snigger. However, with a sharp look from Derek she stopped. "Fine, I won't call her that. It was Izzie's idea anyway, not mine."

"Great. Now that's sorted let's face the hordes."

He rang the doorbell and Meredith couldn't help but observe they had a freakin' dangly bell, one of the ones that hung down like in churches. It jingled noisily. For a few moments there was quiet and Meredith allowed herself to believe that by some miracle they were out. Unfortunately, a scuffling started up behind the door and there were some muffled voices arguing before the door swung open smoothly to reveal two small children. One looked about six and the other two or three. The older one grinned toothily and let out a squeal, throwing herself at Derek's legs whilst the little boy hung back, sucking his hand shyly.

"Uncle Derek!" she squeaked in her soprano voice.

"Hey, Polly, how's it going?" Derek smiled and bent down, slipping his large hands under her armpits and lifting her into a hug. She wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on his nose. "Thanks for that," he chuckled.

"I've missed you Uncle Derek," Polly declared, brandishing her arms and accidently bonking him on the head.

"Ow. Watch where you're flinging those arms," Derek admonished, lightly before adding, "But I've missed you too, pal."

Meredith watched the whole exchange with interest. She knew that Derek was good with kids; she'd seen him handle them enough times at the hospital. He was especially brilliant when they were hurting or scared. He always seemed to know what to say or do to make them feel better. However, seeing how he interacted with his own family made her realise that Derek would probably the most perfect, caring dad a kid could wish for.

"And who is this little fella?" Derek said as he placed Polly back on the ground and focussed on his nephew, crouching down in front of him. "Hmm….I'm not sure I know who he is…could his name be….Kevin?"

The little boy jumped and clapped his hands, giggling in delight at the mention of his name. When he had last seen Derek he had was just turning two and therefore he only vaguely recognised the man who'd played in the paddling pool with him last summer. Still, anyone that knew his name was a friend to him.

Just then someone came striding into the hall and Meredith immediately recognised Nancy.

"Derek!" she exclaimed, smiling, "You made it!"

"Nancy," he greeted her and the two of them embraced, exchanging kisses. Once they pulled apart, Derek gestured to Meredith. "You remember Meredith, don't you?"

"Of course," Nancy said, her voice a little tighter than before. However, she still swept Meredith into a gracious hug. "Wow, you have got big, haven't you? How are the fetuses doing? I'm guessing you're scheduled for bed rest soon? Who's your obstetrician?"

Meredith had forgotten that Nancy was an obstetrician and would therefore know a lot about what she was going through. In fact, although she seemed a tad restrained, she did sound interested in what Meredith had to say. Maybe she was making an exception now Meredith was carrying her nephews and nieces.

"Oh they're great. Kicking like little gremlins though. On the last ultrasound I had, the specialist showed us a picture of one of them kicking the other in the face. It was quite funny but I'm worried they're going to come out with issues." Meredith paused and smiled. "And I go on bed rest next week which I know will be hell but it's for the babies, right? My obstetrician is Dr. Lauren Swan, she's lovely and…."

Nancy interrupted, frowning, "I haven't heard of her." She turned to Derek. "Derek, I'm surprised you haven't flown Addy down to you. You know she's the best."

Derek raised his eyebrows, warningly. "I didn't think that was such a good idea. I mean she has a lot on her plate at the moment and I don't think caring for her ex-husband's wife would be high on the agenda."

"You'd be surprised," another voice joined the conversation. It was Amelia, Derek's youngest sister. She was wearing her usual scruffy, slightly revealing attire. A sliver of her flat stomach was exposed to the world and Meredith felt a pang of jealousy when she looked down at her own rotund belly.

"Oh?" Derek said, the crease between his eyebrows deepening.

"Yeah, she was gutted you didn't phone her to tell her about the kiddywinks," Amelia continued. "She said she thought she was still one of your friends so why didn't she get a call rather than second hand gossip from Mark?"

"_Mark_ told her?"

"That's not the point, Derek," Amelia snapped, seeing his expression, "She still cares about you and Meredith _and _your babies. I bet she'd even come to Seattle to deliver them if you wanted."

Derek didn't comment.

Seeing they had pretty much made him clam up, the two sisters sighed and gestured for them to follow down the corridor into the kitchen where the rest of the guests were. As they walked, Meredith admired the house. She wasn't a particularly material person but she certainly wouldn't mind living here and having all the beautiful furniture and paintings Nancy had. Everything was luxurious and sleek and wooden. The theme seemed to be light brown and white with a touch of blue which made the rooms seem really bright and airy. As she passed by, Meredith ran her fingers over the delicate, soft petals of a bunch of flowers that stood in a vase on the dresser in the hallway.

It was all so clean and tidy – if a little sparse in places – and Meredith found it hard to imagine kids lived here. Derek said Nancy and Charles had five children, four girls and a baby boy, but Meredith could see little evidence of them in this house. It looked like the pad of a stylish couple.

Well, that was until they walked into the kitchen and everything felt suddenly warmer. The room was _full_ of people, only one of which Meredith recognised and that was Derek's grey-haired mother. Other than her there were two other women present that Meredith guessed were Derek's other sisters, Kathleen and Juliet. The two were talking animatedly whilst Kathleen was elbow deep in bubbles washing up crockery and Juliet bounced a sixth month old baby on her knee. Meredith guessed it was Harrison. He was a stout little boy with a broad face and curly black hair. Not the cutest baby that Meredith had ever seen but still rather endearing in his robustness nonetheless.

There was only one man in the room and Meredith had no idea whose husband it was until he slipped up behind Kathleen and kissed her casually on the cheek. They looked like a nice couple, in love and at ease with each other even after five kids. Talking of kids, she couldn't believe how many children were running around under foot. She felt like she was in a day-care and that she was about to be dragged under by the torrent of children swarming around her. One child ran straight into her leg and she gasped as he bounced onto the floor. However, he was immediately up on his feet, seemingly unaffected by the collision, and soon chasing his cousin once more.

"Don't worry, Mer," Derek whispered in her ear, "Bobby always does that."

She was about to reply along the lines of why didn't they stop him doing it then but their entrance had been realised by the room. Immediately there was a flurry of activity as everyone hurried over to great Derek like the long-lost brother he was, smothering him in kisses and hugging him. She soon realised that he was a favourite among his nephews and nieces who all jumped at him, trying to get his attention. Somehow, despite the assault on him, Derek managed to introduce Meredith to everyone. She was hugged and kissed with as much gusto as Derek which surprised her. They asked a lot of questions about the babies, commenting on how big she was and how excited she must be. Desperately she tried to be polite but it was all so overwhelming and she just wanted to yell pickles. Unfortunately, when she glanced around for Derek she realised he'd deserted her in favour of joining the other two husbands she hadn't met in the backyard. They were all setting up the barbeque. Crap-load of help he was then.

* * *

"So, Meredith, have you thought about names?" Kathleen asked, interestedly, whilst sipping at a mango juice. They were sitting around a table on the patio outside, drinking in the sunshine.

Meredith had already decided she liked Kathleen the best of the four sisters. She seemed to be the most like Derek, laid-back and quietly funny. She seemed to be able to sense when Meredith didn't want to talk about something and would change topic with ease. What Meredith had also noticed was that she looked the most like Derek with large blue eyes and dark brown curly hair pulled back in a flyaway ponytail. One thing she did have that Derek didn't and that was freckles. They peppered her nose and reminded Meredith of a doll she had when she was small. She was very pretty in an understated way.

"Um…" Meredith said. Yes, they had thought about names but they hadn't really gotten anywhere. It was surprisingly hard deciding what to call your child when that name would stick with them for the rest of their life and probably form other peoples' opinions of them from the word go. "We have but we're a bit stuck."

"Oh?" Kathleen grinned, her eyes crinkling at the corners. "My personal vote lies with my daughter Angela's suggestion and that's Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne."

"I'd have to get a dog," Meredith laughed. "Someone did suggest naming them after _Fantastic Four_ or the _Incredibles_."

"Ooh! You have ter name them after the _Incredibles_!" a high voice piped up, appearing by Meredith's elbow. The little boy had mouse brown hair and hazel eyes with a smattering of freckles, just like his mother.

"Ah, this is Dillon. I don't think you've met Meredith have you, Dil?"

"No but you should name your babies after the _Incredibles_."

"I'll…er…think about it," Meredith nodded, trying to be serious whilst holding back a laugh.

"Good," the small boy nodded, pleased, and walked away to join the game of Frisbee that was taking place on the grass.

Once he had gone, Kathleen asked, "Okay, what are your real thoughts?"

"I _really _don't know," Meredith replied, honestly, "I mean, working in a hospital, as you know, you kinda meet a _lot_ of people that you hope never to meet again. Same with Derek. And it narrows down the options. One of us will like one name but then the other will have had a patient who died with that name or who was really irritating and veto it. It's frustrating." Sighing deeply, she smiled at Kathleen. "How did you decide?"

"With difficulty," the other woman admitted, "And I was only naming one at a time!" She paused, thinking. "Francis, my husband, wanted to pick them out of a hat. He said we should write down our favourites and then pick them out and that would be that. Needless to say I refused. In the end we just waited until the baby was born and then shouted names at each other until we agreed. And hey, our kids have names so it must have worked."

"It's just so complicated!" Meredith lamented, taking a swig of her water. It was important to keep hydrated as both Dr. Swan and Derek kept reminding her. "Especially with middle names because Derek wants me to give one of the girls my mom's name for a middle name but I'm not sure I want burden her with that. Besides, why shouldn't she have Carolyn for a middle name?"

"Half of our girls have Carolyn as a middle name," Kathleen laughed, "And half the boys have Jack."

"Jack, that's your father, right?"

"Yeah. So I don't see much point in you naming yet another child after our side of the family. You're an only child aren't you?" Meredith nodded. "Well, in my opinion – which of course you don't have to pay any notice to – I think it would be nice to keep a memory of your mom in your kids' life. I mean, she's not around anymore is she?"

"No, I guess." Meredith sat back in her chair thinking but Kathleen wasn't about to let her escape that easily.

"So come on, you still haven't spilled any of your ideas! I'm hanging on a cliff edge here!" Kathleen nudged her shoulder playfully, her pretty eyes sparkling.

Meredith grinned back; revelling in the feeling of _belonging_ that being with Kathleen and the rest of the Shepherds gave her. She'd never been part of a big family before. She always had to make her own out of whoever she could find – hence the house of waifs and strays – and it was nice just to feel warm and safe within this tight family unit. When she was younger she remembered looking in on cosy families around Christmas time when her nanny used to take her for walks. She would see them all gathered around chatting around warm hearths, laughing and hugging and generally having a wonderful time. Standing on the other side of the window in the cold, Meredith had always felt like such an outsider. But now she was part of one of those get-togethers.

"I like William," Meredith finally said, "And Rowan and Samson and Elijah. For boys obviously. And for girls… I really like the name Lucia. We'd probably end up shortening it to Lucy but I still really like it."

"They're all lovely! How can Derek veto them?"

"Oh, he hasn't yet," Meredith replied, "I'm saving them up." She grinned and leant over to Kathleen before whispering conspiratorially, "I'm saving up my favourite ones. I tell him ones I kind of like to start with and then once he's rejected all of them, I'll suggest these ones and he won't want to refuse because – fingers crossed – he'll feel bad for saying no to all the rest."

"Sneaky!"

"I know!"

"And if he doesn't let you have them then you can just play the 'I'm carrying these kids' card. They always crumble in the end."

Both Meredith and Kathleen laughed.

* * *

Derek was delighted to see his family warming to Meredith and Meredith actually warming to his family. He was worried that it would all be too much for his wife but she seemed to have made a firm friend in his eldest sister, Kathleen, and was getting on relatively well with all his other sisters. She still looked a bit uncomfortable around Nancy but Nancy was a generally frosty person so it wasn't surprising.

Right now he was watching Meredith help Juliet with the kids, handing out buns for the burgers. She'd managed to get a streak of flour on her cheek and her hair was rather windswept but she still looked as gorgeous and endearing as ever. Derek couldn't believe he'd been so lucky in life to get someone like Meredith Grey, so unique and funny and beautiful. He also couldn't believe that she was having his children but the large swell of her stomach confirmed that. He knew they had a rough road ahead and that there would undoubtedly be difficulties with quadruplets but the babies were growing healthily so far, so he was trying not to think too much about what could go wrong. Instead, he focussed on how he would feel – how overjoyed and proud he would be – when they came out into the world. His pulse quickened at the tantalising thought.

"Derek," Nancy said, appearing by his side, her baby cradled in her arms, "I'd like you to meet Harrison."

"He's lovely, Nance," Derek said, smiling down at the little boy. Harrison stared back at him with big, brown unblinking eyes. "Hello little champ, you've finally made your mom's wishes come true haven't you. A little man to go with all her girls. I'm your Uncle Derek. I'm sorry we haven't met before now."

"And whose fault is that?" Nancy sniped, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. Derek was reminded rather a lot of his mother.

"Sorry, Nancy," he sighed, "I've been…"

"Busy, we know," she interrupted, brusquely, "Look, do you want to hold him?"

"Yeah, I'd love to." He was trying to make amends but his sister never made things easy.

Gently, Nancy lifted the child out of her arms and placed him into Derek's safe hands. Derek was momentarily surprised by the baby's considerable weight but he soon adjusted to accommodate it. He wiggled his fingers in front of Harrison's face, hoping to provoke a reaction but the baby merely continued to stare at him. Feeling a little disappointed, Derek tried again but Harrison just didn't seem interested in anything other than his face.

"Oh, Derek, do you mind keeping him for a bit whilst I sort Charles out? He's burning the hot dogs." She swept away, her floral summer dress floating around her slender frame.

Jiggling the baby in his arms, Derek wondered what exactly was wrong with him. Most babies usually reacted when you paid them attention. Suddenly his medical brain flicked on. Perhaps he had epilepsy and was zoning out or was it a form of autism…? Fortunately, all his diagnoses were thrown out the window when Harrison suddenly jerked in his hands and was promptly sick all over his blue polo shirt. Derek didn't even have time to aim the baby away because he'd not been expecting the ejection of bodily fluids at all. He sighed, wearily, holding the baby away from him.

"Having fun, my big brother?"

Derek turned and was met with the sharp face of his baby sister Amelia. She smirked at him and his rather messy predicament.

"Amy, could you give me a hand?"

Amelia stared at him for a few moments, leaning causally on the patio table, as if contemplating something. Eventually, she cocked her head and spoke.

"Only if you explain to _me _why you didn't tell Addison about your babies."

"That's none of your business."

"Er…it kinda is, _especially_ if you want me to help mop up that mess." She gestured up and down at his soiled shirt.

Derek glared at her. "Fine, I'll do it myself. Here, take him." He handed her the soggy baby and then stripped off his shirt. His brother-in-law wolf-whistled from the other end of the yard where he was manning the grill. "Thanks," Derek called back, winking.

"What the hell are ya going to do with four of these things?" Amelia asked, wrinkling her nose and holding Harrison at arm's length.

"You mean _babies_?"

"Yeah. I mean you only have two arms each."

Derek arched an eyebrow. "I'm really glad you paid attention in med school, Amy."

"I'm just saying it's gonna be pretty damn hard. Urgh…can you take him back now?"

She held the baby out to Derek who took him back. Initially, he was worried Harrison would puke again but he realise that now he'd got the sick out of his system he was looking much perkier. In fact, he was clapping his little chubby hands together, obviously excited by all the children dashing by with burgers in their hands.

"I don't get why everyone is obsessed with having babies all of a sudden," Amelia sighed, "I mean why don't we all just live a little and party before we get tied down by all that crap?"

"Amelia, I'm nearly forty, I've done all the partying I need in my life. I want to settle down and have a family now."

"Boring."

"You'll understand one day."

"I doubt it."

"Anyway, when you say everyone is obsessed who is 'everyone'?"

"You guys, Nancy was until recently, Cooper…"

"Who's Cooper?"

"A guy at Oceanside Wellness but that's complicated. Anyway, Addy wants a rugrat too."

Derek's eyes widened. "She does?"

"Yeah. She's having trouble though. It's really getting to her."

"I thought she didn't want kids."

All through their marriage Addison had put off having children. She claimed that she wasn't ready and she needed to focus on her career and why should she put her career on hold to have a kid when he didn't have to? It had been the source of a lot of fights and friction between them, especially as Derek had made it clear what he wanted on the day they married and Addison had agreed…someday. Derek just hadn't realised how far away her _someday _was. The heartache he'd experienced in not having a child was still sharp in his chest now but, he supposed, he was sort of glad that Addison had been against children because otherwise he would have been anchored into that marriage and he would never have met Meredith. He supposed it had all worked out for the best.

However, he didn't like the idea of Addison struggling to conceive. He still cared for her and if this was something that she really wanted then he couldn't help but feel terribly sorry for her.

"Well she sure as hell does now," Amelia said before frowning. "Hey, you still haven't told me why you didn't tell Addison about the pregnancy yourself?"

Stroking Harrison's soft, downy baby hair, Derek stared at his sister for a few long seconds before he spoke. "I didn't want to hurt her. I know we're friends but she _was _my wife and telling her about my new wife having babies seemed wrong. And I'm really glad I didn't rub the news in her face if she's struggling with infertility. Plus, I didn't want to upset Meredith either. I didn't know if she'd feel awkward or not."

"I guess your right," Amelia shrugged, "I still think Addison would be interested in hearing how things are going first-hand. Just a thought."

With that she turned and wandered off.

Derek was left deep in thought.

* * *

They left New York two days later, catching the first flight back to Seattle on the Thursday morning. They would have stayed longer if it hadn't been for Meredith's looming need for bed rest and the fact that Derek had scheduled a very important, complex tumour removal for the Friday. He wanted to be well rested before undertaking that. Throughout the visit, Meredith had gradually settled into the family unit and she and Kathleen had exchanged numbers and email addresses so they could keep in touch. Meredith had a million and one questions she wanted to ask about the last few months of pregnancy and what life after the birth would be like and Kathleen was a fount of information.

Another reason they had to be back on Thursday was that Meredith had a very important scan. It was important more to her and Derek than the actual health of the babies because they would have the chance to see the quads in 4-D.

The ultrasound technician took quite a while fiddling with the angles so that the babies didn't just look like blobs of green goo but soon he managed to get it so they formed the shape of fetuses. Meredith gasped and had to grip Derek's hand very tightly when she saw the face of Baby B for the first time. It was just so astounding to realise there were actually four perfectly formed humans living in her uterus.

"I think he looks like you," Derek had decided.

"Oh, thanks," Meredith replied, indignantly, "I look like freakin' ET, do I?

"Er…yeah," Derek had answered, cheekily. He'd received a punch for that but it had been completely worth it. Then he'd whispered in her ear, in a way of apology, "But I'm very attracted to you all the same."

"Ew…you freaky alien lover." Meredith pretended to retch before sticking her small pink tongue out.

Unfortunately, they didn't get to see all the babies because two of them were hiding in her pelvic region and the transducer couldn't read through bone. However, seeing two of her little babies and having the pictures to show for it was enough for Meredith. She just couldn't wait to see them in the flesh.

**Please review! **


	6. The Birth

**Author's Note - Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I was surprised at the hate for Amelia though. Is she that unlikeable or did I write her that way?**

**Anyhoo, here's the chapter we've all been waiting for!**

"Twenty-five weeks and I'm already a _monster_! How can I get any bigger?" Meredith groaned, sitting in the middle of the double bed, propped up by a stack of pillows. Her distended belly rose above her like some gigantic mountain, practically blocking her view of the television that Derek had so kindly installed in their room during her period of bed rest. "And why do they keep friggin' _kicking _me?"

"Maybe they're fed up of your whiny voice? I know I am," Cristina Yang replied, smoothly, lying on her stomach lengthways on the bed. As she spoke she popped a fluffy white piece of popcorn in her mouth and focussed on the screen. "Can you keep it down; I'm trying to watch this?"

"Why don't you piss off then? And go back to your apartment because - _in case_ you hadn't noticed! – I'm not allowed to leave this craphole!"

"Pipe down, Whiny-McWhinerson."

Cristina waved a quelling hand in her general direction. Meredith attempted to reach over and smack it but it was, unfortunately, just out of her range. Everything was out of her range these days: the remote, a glass of water, her book. Whenever she wanted to get something she had to do so with gargantuan effort, hauling herself out of bed, and that would leave her exhausted and boneless for ages after.

Glowering at her friend, Meredith sat back in a huff and refused to watch the rest of the film. It was one of those stupid anime ones she hated anyway. Instead, she periodically threw popcorn at the back of Cristina's head, enjoying the steadily growing irritation she caused. Eventually Cristina's patience wore just a little too thin.

"Right! That's it! Pregnant with McDreamy's spawn you may be but I am _not _afraid to kick your butt into next week!"

"Oh, I wish you would, then this torture might be over sooner," Meredith replied, making a deliberately annoyingly sweet face at her friend. Cristina glared at her. She grinned back.

Eventually, Cristina snapped, "Fine! I'll leave you here to irritate yourself into insanity instead."

Hauling herself up off the bed, Cristina dropped lithely onto the floor and headed for the door.

"No! Don't leave me!" Meredith exclaimed, desperately.

"You brought this on yourself, Meredith Grey," Cristina said, turning and looking at her pointedly, "You have only yourself to blame."

"Oh, come on Cristina!"

However, Cristina had already swept through the door and vanished from sight. Meredith knew she would be bored senseless for a whole day without her best friend around to entertain her and so she called out hopefully.

"Cristina! I'm sorry. We can watch the damn movie but will you just _come back_ here!"

Suddenly the door swung open but rather than revealing a sour-faced Cristina, April's head appeared. She had a large, beaming smile plastered on her pretty features.

"Meredith, did you call for something?"

"No," Meredith sighed, "I'm just peachy."

She flopped back on her pillows, defeated. The movie that Cristina had been watching was still on the screen. It flashed annoyingly at her, the bright colours hurting her head and the oddly perfect voices making her want to hit something.

"Are you sure you don't want anything…?"

"No, April, just leave me to die of boredom alone, please," Meredith snapped. When she saw April's face fall she immediately felt bad but she was too exhausted and hormonal and fed up to care.

"Ooo-kay. Well I'm going out so I'll leave you in peace," April said and gingerly closed the door.

These last few weeks had been hell. Bed rest, although it had 'rest' in the title, was not all it was cracked up to be. As someone who was eternally active and often ran on very little sleep, Meredith found it increasingly hard to deal with the inactivity and boredom factor of being in her bed all day.

In the first few days, she'd bent the rules and wandered round the house to alleviate her tedium. However, that had come to an immediate halt when she started having contractions. She had been terrified out of her mind when the strange tightening and shrinking sensation in her abdomen occurred. They didn't have the pain of full-blown contractions but she knew it was her body's way of saying that it was nearing its limits. She'd rung Derek and the two of them had rushed to the hospital only to be told that these kind of small contractions were common in multiple pregnancies. Dr. Swan had given her a contraction monitor and told her that if she had more than four in an hour then she should be worried but anything less should be fine. Meredith had also been prescribed _Procardia_ to decrease the amount of contractions and that did work for awhile.

However, eventually the contractions came back and the _Procardia _had little effect so Meredith was given a more hardcore terbutaline pump. This was originally a drug for alleviating asthma symptoms but had been proven to be very effective for reducing the risk of very early labour in multiples. The pump delivered a dose straight into Meredith's leg muscle through a flexible tube – which she hated because it always got in the way – and reduced the contractions. It had two settings, one that delivered small doses around the clock and the other which delivered a large dose called a bolus every six hours. Unfortunately, the side effects of the drug made her very weak and shaky for the first few days. These abated after a week though.

At her last appointment – where she got to hear all five hearts beating inside of her, including her own - Dr. Swan had advised her to spend as much time as possible lying on her side and thus she was now a lady of leisure, as Derek liked to call her. It drove her up the wall; especially when he would insist on doing things for her. Yes, it had been sweet at first but the novelty soon wore off and now she just wanted to be free and independent. When he had suggested a catheter she'd really had to put her foot down.

"I'm _not _a freakin' invalid, Derek!" Meredith had screamed, throwing a half eaten ham sandwich at his perfectly coiffed head. "I may have to pee every fifteen minutes but those damn pees are the highlight of my day! If I didn't have them then I'd never have an excuse to get up off this damn bed because you won't let me!"

That had been a particularly _fun_ day.

Other than the contractions that came occasionally, everything else was progressing perfectly. She had no swelling, her blood pressure was in the right range and she had no protein in her urine which would be an indicator of preeclampsia. In fact, the babies were doing so well that they'd even started kicking enough for Derek to be able to place his hand on Meredith's stomach and feel them. To Meredith it felt like someone was using her uterus as a drum, beating on the taut skin, but to see Derek's delighted face made it all worth the irritation and reminded her that although she'd been able to feel the quads move inside her for awhile now, Derek hadn't had a proper chance to bond with them and communicate. It was a very sweet moment and Meredith wished she'd had a camera to capture the massive, enchanted grin on her husband's face.

"I can't believe they're actually kicking me," Derek had breathed, softly. His blue eyes sparkled with wonder.

"Well I can believe it because I can feel each friggin' kick," Meredith replied but her heart warmed when she saw him press his cheek against the smooth skin of her abdomen, hoping to sense each and every movement.

"I just can't wait to meet them."

"Me neither."

Meredith sighed as the babies reminded her, yet again, that they were still there by bouncing merrily on her bladder. With a weary groan, she dragged her heavy body out of bed and dropped onto the floor. Her back _ached _so damn much. At night, Derek had been giving her massages and although they felt good at the time, the pain always came back.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid midgets," she muttered as she plodded along. "Why don't you stop using my freakin' bladder as a bouncy castle?"

It was an effort to even go to the toilet, lowering herself onto the seat and then heaving herself up at the end. However, this time as she heaved herself up she felt a twinge deep in her uterus. Wincing, she realised that she hadn't done her contraction monitoring today. Waddling over to the bed, she sat down and set up the monitor on her belly. It took a moment to start registering and then would take readings for an hour. She lay back and waited.

The hour passed and she mustered the strength to pull herself into an upright position in order to see the reading. It took her a moment to count the contractions but when she realised how many she's had her heart skipped a beat. _Ten_ in an hour. That was not good. Feeling slightly scared, she grabbed the phone off the side table. Who did she phone? Derek? He was already at the hospital and there was no point in him coming back if…if she had to go in. Did she call 911? Or did she call Dr. Swan to see what her opinion was? In the end, she settled for Dr. Swan.

"Hi, Dr. Swan," she said when the phone was picked up. She could hear her breathing getting louder and faster. Was it panic or a symptom?

"Meredith, hello, what can I do for you?"

"Dr. Swan, I just had ten contractions in the last hour. I know that can't be good. You told me the threshold was four in an hour."

Dr. Swan was silent at the other end of the phone and Meredith suddenly wondered if she'd hung up but then she said, "Yes, I think you should come in. I've just checked with Linda and she agrees that's too high. Will you be able to get in all right?"

"Um…Derek's at the hospital so I could call a cab…" She would have asked April but she just remembered she had gone out. _Crap_. And Cristina had gone and left her too!

"That's a good idea. Go straight to triage when you arrive."

"Okay," Meredith said, the word catching in her throat.

"I'll see you soon, Meredith, keep calm."

"Bye."

"Bye."

Having hung up the phone, Meredith suddenly felt very isolated and alone. There was no one to help her now other than herself. Quickly, she rang the cab and then, taking a deep breath, she set about climbing out of bed. It seemed so much harder than before and she felt beads of sweat pop out on her forehead as she grunted her way to her feet. Once more she felt a contraction grip her and she shivered in downright fear. Please say this wasn't happening. _Please_. They weren't ready. Twenty five weeks wasn't enough! She needed to hold them inside her for another three weeks at least.

Breathing heavily, Meredith pulled on a thick jumper and headed for the door. Navigating the treacherous stairs was a little daunting but she managed to get down without stumbling too much. Once in the hallway, she managed to hook her bag off the bottom of the stairs and grabbed her coat. It was rather chilly because summer was turning into autumn and the leaves were beginning to brown. She hovered awkwardly in the door, keeping an eye out for her cab and hoping it would turn up soon. In the ten minutes she waited she counted two contractions and then she had a further three in the length of time it took to get to Seattle Grace. The cab driver kept glancing at her in his mirror and looked like he wanted to ask if she was about to drop. Honestly, Meredith didn't even know herself. She didn't know if her body had finally decided that conditions were too cramped and these babies needed to come out.

She arrived at the hospital and was immediately placed on a contraction monitor. A doctor she didn't recognise was checking her readings and confirmed that she was having contractions every five or six minutes. She felt her heartbeat increase as she sat in the hard hospital bed, waiting for Dr. Swan to arrive.

* * *

The cafeteria was buzzing with noise and Derek found it difficult to hear any of his colleagues as they talked. He was having lunch with Mark, Callie and Teddy. On his plate he had some wilting lettuce and a rubbery tomato which were the remnants of his chicken salad but he really didn't fancy eating them. His stomach was still roiling after a particularly gruesome injury that he'd had to attend to in the ER with Owen. A two year old boy had been brought in with an axe literally embedded in his skull. Apparently, he had been attacked by his mother's ex-husband. Derek didn't know the full story but the mother had been DOA and the boy had crashed before they could even get him to an OR. What had really upset Derek was that he'd been lucid for a small amount of time. Initially he'd screamed for his mommy but he'd been comforted by a teddy bear someone had nabbed from paediatrics. Derek had managed to reassure him for a few minutes before suddenly his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he seized. They hadn't been able to save him.

He was just a little boy. Derek couldn't understand why anyone would want to hurt him.

Picking at the tomato, Derek almost didn't hear his pager go off. He was on his lunch break and so he almost didn't answer it but, considering he'd lost his appetite, he didn't see the point in hanging around here. As soon as he read the message on his pager, Derek scraped his chair back so fast that it went flying into the guy behind. He muttered a brief apology and then sprinted out of the cafeteria. His friends could only stare after him in astonishment.

* * *

"And we'll need to keep you in for overnight observation. I think that's the safest option," Dr. Swan concluded just as Derek burst through the door.

"Meredith!" he exclaimed, his dark hair wild after his sprint across the hospital.

"Derek," she said, her voice sounding weak and worried.

They kissed quickly and Meredith couldn't believe how good it felt to have him present. Her anxiety decreased knowing he was there to make sure she was all right and that the quadruplets would get the best possible care.

"What's happened, Meredith?" he asked, concern filling his voice as he stroked her hair.

"The contractions have increased a lot and Dr. Swan wants to keep me in overnight and she wants to give me a magnesium sulfate pump to wipe out the contractions."

"The side effects of that are pretty bad for that, aren't they?" Derek frowned, worriedly.

"Yes, I'm afraid you're going to have to prepare to be pretty miserable."

"But it's for the quads, right?" Meredith nodded, resigned to her fate. "I'll do anything for them, no matter how much they kick and punch me."

Dr. Swan smiled. "We'll find you a room upstairs."

It didn't take long for Meredith to be allocated a bed in obstetrics and she was very pleased to realise she had her own room. Then again, she guessed those were the privileges one received when they were the quasi-surrogate daughter of the Chief of Surgery and wife to the Chief of Neurosurgery. She guessed there had to be some perks. Derek held her hand the entire transfer and, for once, she couldn't have been more grateful for his protectiveness.

She was soon hooked up to a magnesium pump and braced herself for the inevitable rollercoaster she was about to find herself on. It didn't take long.

"Derek, I'm so hot," she whimpered, throwing her covers off her knees. "Ergh…I feel like I'm being cooked alive."

Derek looked at her sympathetically. "Those are the side-effects I'm afraid, Mer."

"Yeah? Well side-effects suck."

"I agree."

"I just wanna throw myself into an ice cold pool!" Meredith moaned, fidgeting incessantly because she just could not get comfortable.

"I don't know what I can do, Mer. You know if I could stop your suffering I would," Derek sighed, his features creased into a helpless frown.

Suddenly there was a brief knock on the door and they both looked up to see Cristina bursting in.

"Oh, Meredith, I'm so sorry for leaving you earlier!" she said, immediately. She looked so ashamed.

"You left her?" Derek intervened, sounding angry.

"I didn't mean to. Well, I did but…look I'm sorry, Mer. I was just tired, you know. I wanted some peace and quiet after a long shift and you talking in my ear was…well, frankly, it was driving me crazy."

"You said," Meredith smiled. "Like _I_ said, Cristina, its fine. I don't need a babysitter. This was hardly your fault and I sorted it out on my own. I'm not the _complete _cripple that Derek seems to think I am." She shot him a pointed glare.

"God, I'm gonna be such a _crap _godmother."

Cristina wandered in and slumped on the end of the bed. Her mouth was turned down at the edges like a pouting child.

"Aw…I'm gonna be such a crap _mom_," Meredith comforted, "And I'm the one who has to look after them twenty four seven. I'll probably get so fed up with them I'll put them in a closet and leave them there."

"Yeah, that would probably be the best place for them."

"Definitely."

In unison they both started laughing and all Derek could do was look on mystified.

"I'll leave you two to it," he eventually said, seeing they were getting into a fully fledged conversation, "Do you want me to get you a fan, Mer?"

"Yes! That would be great. I love you."

"Love you too."

* * *

Derek spent the whole night freezing cold because Meredith was so hot but he promised her he didn't mind. He would much rather be suffering than her be suffering. It made him feel like he was doing something for her, especially as she was in such a stressful situation.

Morning came and they were all expecting an improvement in the rate of contractions, so it was very galling to realise they'd only decreased to one every ten minutes. Therefore Meredith had to stay on the magnesium pump and still contend with the horrible side effects. Dr. Swan decided that they would have to give steroids to the quads because there was a chance they could be born in the next few days and they needed to mature their lungs quickly.

"But they're not ready!" Meredith had gasped, biting her lip as she clutched Derek's hand. He laced his fingers through hers, trying to reassure her.

"That's why we're trying to stave off the birth but we need to take all the precautions. I'm really sorry we're torturing you like this but it's truly necessary, Meredith. And I'm afraid that you're definitely going to need to stay in hospital for the weekend at least."

The only plus of being in hospital and under observation was that she got to see the quads every day on an ultrasound. They were pretty big now and Meredith couldn't help but marvel at how human they looked. Their heads were still a little too large in proportion to their bodies but they did look like proper small human beings. Every time she saw them on the scan, wiggling around and waving at her, she begged them to stay in her for a little longer. She just wanted them to hang on.

"How long do you reckon I'll have to stay in here, Derek?" she asked whilst they were staring at one of the scans. She traced Baby A's face with her finger.

"To be honest, Meredith, I think you might be in for the long haul."

She sighed. "That's what I was afraid of."

And they were right.

* * *

Things quickly settled into monotony as the weeks passed by. Meredith had to keep herself very relaxed with a mixture of drugs and sleeping but it was really difficult in a busy hospital ward where there were always things going on. She had to contend with constant interruptions of her sleep such ultrasounds, physical therapy, massages, weigh-ins and multitude of visitors. She only managed the occasional nap, especially as the residents came for rounds at 5am and woke her up. Being on the patient side of the doctor-patient relationship she was now realising how freakin' annoying that was.

Her contractions still came but in cycles, occurring for hours before abruptly stopping and then surprising her when they started up again. She maintained the subzero temperatures in her room too in order to combat the side-effect of the mag pump and Derek had taken to wearing several layers every time he came to visit.

However, her twenty-eighth week of pregnancy came and went so they could all breathe a sigh of relief. Now they'd past that point the babies had an eighty percent chance of survival as opposed to a fifty percent chance before. In fact, Dr. Swan seemed to think that, at the rate Meredith was managing, she may be able to keep the babies in until her thirty-fourth week which would be fantastic. However, Meredith didn't allow herself to hope for too much because it was a miracle they'd got this far already. It was hard to believe that not so long ago she didn't even know if the quads would make it past the first week and now they were almost here.

"Geez…Derek, one of them is so friggin' far down in my pelvis that when she kicks she feels like she's in my leg! Can you believe that?" Meredith exclaimed in her thirtieth week as she lay in her hospital bed reading a journal. "And there's another one right under my ribcage."

"That sounds…odd and a little bit uncomfortable," Derek replied, raising an eyebrow as he looked up from where he was doing a Sudoku.

"Ergh…yeah, I really wish they'd stop," Meredith agreed, looking a little green. He laughed.

"I know something that'll take your mind off it! Why don't we discuss names?"

"Oh…all right," Meredith conceded. She didn't know which was worse, arguing with Derek about names or the weird sensation of having a baby's head under your ribs. She certainly wouldn't get any sleep with it like that so she might as well take Derek up on his offer.

* * *

Baby D wasn't growing again. She hadn't been growing for the last three weeks and Dr. Swan and Linda were worried. The other babies were around 4lb 7 oz. but she was still lagging behind in the 3lb range and because of this they were going to have to deliver the babies earlier than they'd hoped. Meredith was at thirty-three weeks so it wasn't that much of a difference on the outside but medically, the babies would grow massively in that extra week and mature given the chance. Unfortunately, Baby B was the largest baby and they weren't sure if his lungs were mature enough to leave the uterus. It was common for the biggest baby to have the least developed lungs. A test would need to be done in order to decide whether to press ahead with the caesarean or not.

Meredith and Derek couldn't help but feel like it was almost go time; especially when the amino results came back and they showed there was only a five percent chance of Baby B needing ventilation outside of the womb.

"So, Meredith, the end is nigh. You won't have to be strapped to this bed any longer," Dr. Swan smiled because she knew how much her patient was loathing the restriction of constant bed rest. "We've scheduled your c-section for tomorrow. Obviously, it will be a bit riskier than the usual c-section but you and your babies are in great hands. I doubt there will be any complications."

"Wow…tomorrow? That is soon," Meredith said, looking a bit stunned. Derek squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"You might be able to hold your little ones by tomorrow afternoon."

"What time is my surgery?"

"Eight o'clock."

"Okay then. I'll definitely be there…" Meredith nodded. She still seemed a bit shell-shocked. She'd been waiting for this day for so long and it was finally here.

"Would you like to be in the room, Derek?"

"Yes, definitely," Derek said, earnestly.

"Good. Well I look forward to seeing you tomorrow."

* * *

Meredith hadn't managed to sleep all night and so she was wide awake when dawn broke on October 2nd. The sun streamed through her window and she felt its warm autumnal glow on her skin. Her stomach rumbled hungrily but she wasn't allowed to eat anything before the surgery.

"You'll just have to wait, squirts," she whispered to her stomach, "Mommy can't feed you until you come out, okay?"

She glanced around the room and spotted Derek fast asleep in an armchair, his mouth hanging open. An idea crossed her mind and she couldn't help but carry it out. Picking one of the grapes off the bunch on her side table - which had been left there very inconsiderately in her opinion by one of the nurses considering she was nil-by-mouth – she took aim and threw it at Derek's mouth. She missed. However, Meredith was pretty persistent.

It took six attempts for her to land her shot and Derek woke up with a start, almost choking on the grape in his mouth. He spat it out into his hand and looked around wildly. Meredith pretended to be asleep but she kept one eye cracked open. However, she couldn't help the laughter that bubbled in her chest when she saw how adorable Derek's completely and utterly befuddled expression was. Her movement gave her away.

"Meredith," Derek called, "I know it was you."

"What was me?" Meredith asked, sitting up and yawning innocently.

"You're trouble," he said, smiling crookedly and shaking his head, "What am I going to do with you and the four of them?"

"Curl yourself into the fetal position and cry in the corner?" Meredith suggested, brightly.

"Sounds appealing." Derek laughed. "Anyway, how are you feeling? You nervous?"

"Obviously."

"Me too."

"Hey, you're not the one who's being sliced open."

"You're not the one who has to _watch _the other one be sliced open and worry about all the things that could go wrong." As Derek spoke, he stood up and stretched, unfurling like a cat after a long nap. He wandered slowly over to her.

"I'm the one that things could go wrong to."

"True. I concede. Yours is the worse position."

"I'm glad we're agreed. Now, could you get me some ice chips?"

"Sure, I'll be right back." He kissed her softly on the lips and then left.

* * *

The two hours until her surgery seemed to pass by so slowly but eventually the time came when they would anesthetize the lower half of her body for the surgery. Meredith could feel her heart hammering in her chest but she tried desperately to slow it down for the babies' sake. She needed her blood pressure to be as normal as possible for the procedure.

As she was wheeled towards the OR, Meredith held Derek's hand so tightly that she thought her knuckles might burst out of her hands. This had to go okay. Please let this be okay. He kept offering her reassuring smiles but she was past comfort now.

Dr. Swan wasn't actually performing the surgery. A neonatal specialist was and his name was Dr. Malik. Meredith had met him a couple of times and he seemed very good at what he did. All the questions that Derek and Meredith had thrown at him, he'd been able to answer, which was pretty impressive.

Seeing him and all his medical team around her was quite daunting and Meredith had to force herself to take several deep breaths. Everything looked so odd from this angle, lying horizontally on the table, and she really didn't like it. However, she had to quell her own fears and focus on getting these babies out healthily.

Obviously, she couldn't tell when Malik made the first cut because she was completely numb. Even so, she knew when it happened because Derek winced.

"If you're gonna make faces, _please_ don't do it in my eye line," Meredith warned.

"Sorry," he said, looking contrite.

She could still hear things and that was also perturbing. It was difficult to describe the sound of a uterus being cut open but she was reminded of general squelchy things like jellyfish and a boot standing on wet mud. Meredith bit her lip and tried not to think about anything other than the quads.

"Right…" Dr. Malik said, his hands delving in Meredith's uterus as he looked at the ultrasound they had in the theatre. "I have Baby B here. He's coming out."

Meredith couldn't see him removing her son but she knew that the baby would be small and purple and – fingers crossed – squalling. She'd never thought a baby's cry could be music to her ears but when the first piercing wails broke the tense silence in the OR, her whole body relaxed. He kept squawking the entire time as he was taken to a neonate exam table to be checked out. She knew after that he would head straight to the NICU so she tried to get a glimpse of her eldest son as the nurse carried him past. As she thought, he was pinkish purple in colour and covered in greasy white vernix. Pretty gross looking but she still could see the beauty in him and his coming into the world.

"And number two baby. I believe this is Baby…A." The surgeon removed another baby from inside Meredith. She watched Derek's face as he saw their daughter for the first time. It was full of love and amazement. She saw him squeeze her hand but she couldn't feel it.

"Look at them, Meredith," he breathed, "They're both so beautiful."

Baby A was quieter than her brother but she still let out a few pitiful squeaks like a baby bird as she was taken to be examined.

"And now we have….oh…he's a little harder to get this one…trying to wedge himself under your ribs. Aha. Gotcha. Baby C, I believe."

Meredith watched her second son take great gulps of air as he was transferred to a waiting table. The first two were already being rolled away, tucked up inside incubators. They were bright pink now and reminded Meredith of the little naked baby rats she'd seen on a documentary once. Not that she should probably be comparing her babies to rats. Then again, they _were _all newborn animals.

"Go with them, Derek," Meredith whispered, hoarsely, "Don't leave them alone."

"In a minute, Mer, let's get the last one out."

They waited whilst Dr. Malik fiddled around inside her uterus. Meredith saw Derek winced several more times before the surgeon finally removed the fourth and the smallest quadruplet from her. She was still watching her husband's reactions when she saw a frown crease his features.

"She's not breathing," he murmured. He was about to rise to his feet but Meredith stopped him.

"Give them time to work on her, Derek. I'm sure…"

A baby's sharp cry interrupted them and they grinned at each other in pure relief. They weren't out of the woods yet but they were certainly on the way.

"I'll close you up now, Meredith and you'll be seeing your little ones in next to no time," Dr. Malik said, brightly.

* * *

They were covered in so many tubes and wires and blankets inside their individual incubators that it was hard to see much of the babies themselves. They were so tiny that everything seemed to swamp them and Derek couldn't help compare them to the giant that was Harrison. In comparison to him the quads were miniscule. But they were alive and that's all that mattered. Unfortunately, Meredith was still in recovery so she wouldn't have a chance to see their beautiful, beautiful children yet. Derek thought he was probably doing enough staring for the both of them though. He couldn't help but drink in everything about them. He finally had four little people to love and cherish and protect. He longed to touch them but that would have to wait.

In fact, they were four little people that finally had names, after much deliberation, and their tiny wrist tags read, in order of birth:

William Grady Shepherd

Lucia Maribel Shepherd

Malachy Samson Shepherd

Rosalind Ellis Shepherd

Staring at his newborn children, Derek could help but think they were the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his life.

**Please, please review!**


	7. Four Perfect People

**Author's Note - Thanks for the wonderful reviews! They make me so happy. If you want, you could give me some ideas of what you'd like to see involving the quad's growing? I might not get to use them all but its always nice to have some input so I know I'm keeping you entertained. **

**Please keep reading, I have a few chapters left in me yet! :D**

The room was quiet except for the steady thrum of machines and the occasional whimper of a baby or the scuffling footsteps of a nurse. Several incubators were placed at intervals along the wall and down the centre of the room. The space between them allowed for regular check-ups from the staff and were also wide enough for the occasional parent to sit and stare at their tiny infant. Most of the neonates were on CPAP machines to help them breathe and therefore had large masks over their mouths that pretty much covered the majority of their face. They were also connected to heart monitors and nasal feeding tubes – which would help sustain them without their mother's milk.

On the far side of the room, Meredith sat in a wheelchair, still weak and pale from her surgery and with a belly that still looked like she was heavily pregnant - fortunately this would shrink with the help of a pump. She had her hand inside one of the incubators and was gently stroking the tiny, pink arm of one of her newborn babies. It caused her great delight to see him reacting to her touch, wiggling just a little bit and mewling. She just wished she could hold him but he wouldn't be able to come out of the safety of the incubator for at least a week.

"It's all right, Malachy," she whispered, softly, "Mommy's here."

He whimpered but seemed soothed by the sound of her voice. His scrunched up little face smoothed out and she guessed he'd gone back to sleep. It was hard to tell though because he had a blindfold over his eyes. This was because he had elevated bilirubin levels – in other words he was jaundiced – and needed the blindfold and phototherapy lights trained on him to improve his condition. She hadn't even had a chance to see his eyes yet and he'd been out of the womb for three days. She just hoped that he would recover soon and then she might be able to see his face properly for the first time.

The two older babies were fairing slightly better. William had come off CPAP yesterday and Lucia was not far behind him. Dr. Swan reckoned she could probably come off CPAP as well today which Meredith couldn't wait for.

Unfortunately, it was just Malachy and Rosalind that were struggling.

Malachy was taken off CPAP at the same time as William but, during his first bath, he had a lot of trouble breathing and so had to be put back on straight away. It was distressing for Meredith to watch. However, it was Rosalind that was having the hardest time as the runt of the litter. She'd been given forty percent oxygen to help her lungs which wasn't a lot but it still worried the hell out of Meredith. She was also suffering from jaundice and was still the tiniest of the four at a mere 3lb 9oz. The nurses assured her that she would start piling on the grams soon like her siblings.

Currently, Meredith was alone in her bedside vigil because Derek had popped home to wash and change. They had been taking turns keeping the babies company. It was harder for Meredith because she was exhausted after her surgery but she was determined to stay with her children so she knew everything that happened to them. She was currently staying in the post-partum unit and it wrenched at her gut every time she had to be away from them. She just wanted to study their tiny bodies forever.

"Hey," a voice said behind her, jumping her from her reverie.

She turned around and saw Derek.

"That was quick," she commented, seeing his still damp hair and smelling the soap on him.

"Yeah," he smiled, dropping into a chair beside her. "I couldn't stand to be away for too long. How are you all doing?"

"I'm fine, just a little sore at my incision site and the quads are doing okay too. Look…" She gestured over to William's incubator. "You can see William's face. I think he looks like you."

Derek stood up and peered through the transparent incubator at his son. He was sleeping soundly on his stomach, eyes tightly closed and hands bunched into miniscule fists. Every time he looked at any one of the quads he couldn't help but marvel at how small they were. He inspected William's creased features and then came to sit back down.

"I guess he does," he agreed, reaching out to catch Meredith's spare hand in his own. Their fingers intertwined. "But he has your hair."

"What? You mean blond and fuzzy?" Meredith grinned, bumping him playfully with her shoulder.

"I meant its kind of golden," Derek replied, easily, not rising to the bait.

"Well, I think Malachy is going to have your dark lustrous locks." As she spoke, her fingers travelled up her son's neck to the back of his head, stroking his downy hair. "I reckon he has a bit of a receding hairline. What do you think?"

"My hair is not receding," Derek said, looking defensive.

"Did I _say _it was?"

"You implied it." Derek raised his eyebrows meaningfully. "Anyway, how are the girls? Is Rosie still getting oxygen?"

"Yeah," Meredith sighed.

Derek looked at her sympathetically and kissed the top of her head. "Don't worry, Mer, I'm sure she'll improve. She's from a family of survivors isn't she?"

Meredith smiled, weakly. "I guess."

"Plus, she'll be as stubborn as hell if she's inherited your personality."

"Says _you_!"

"What are you on about?" Derek smirked and adopted a smug expression. "I'm eternally laid-back and forgiving."

"On what planet?" Meredith gaped.

"Yeah. You're right," Derek conceded with a wry grin. "We're both as stubborn as mules."

They sat in companionable silence for awhile. Meredith laid her head on Derek's shoulder and the two of them watched their babies continue to breathe and survive. They both hoped that they would be out of here soon.

* * *

"Guess what I've got?" Derek appeared in the doorway, looking like an overexcited kid on Christmas Day. Meredith barely had time to look up from where she was staring into Rosie's isolette and ask what before he yelped, "A camera!"

He pulled the big black object out from behind his back with a flourish as if he was pulling a rabbit out of a hat. His blue eyes were bright with enthusiasm as he hurried across the NICU to her.

"It's a Nikon D3 and…"

"I don't care what it is Derek and I _really _don't want a run through of its details and credentials or whatever crap you've researched about it. I just want to know, does it take pictures?"

"Yes, of course, it's a camera."

"Then bring it here and take some pictures. Look, Lucia's opening her eyes!"

Derek dropped down in front of the incubator and looked inside where, sure enough, his daughter was opening her eyes. It wasn't the first time she'd done it. They'd experienced that joy yesterday but it wasn't a common occurrence considering she much preferred to sleep. For once, though, she looked alert and stared, solemnly, at him with her large blue eyes. They were still too big for her narrow face - which was common for preemies - and so she looked a little bit like a bush-baby but Derek still thought she looked adorable. He quickly began to snap away on his new camera.

"Having fun?" Meredith asked her snap-happy husband after he'd taken about a hundred photos of each of the quads. He's managed to get a particularly good one of William who had yawned massively for the camera. It was very sweet.

"Yeah," Derek said, coming to sit beside her.

Just then, one of the nurses called Kate came over.

"You know, you can hold her if you want," she said, gesturing to Lucia who was still staring at them all with something akin to interest.

"Really?" both Meredith and Derek asked in unison.

"Yeah. She's definitely ready. In fact, you can hold both her and William and I can take some pictures if you want?" she suggested, kindly.

Meredith couldn't contain her excitement. She'd waited for this day for so long. The quads were one week old and Derek and Meredith had only been able to bond with them by giving them bottles, changing their tiny diapers and taking their temperature, all of which had to be done inside the incubator. But now they would finally be able to cuddle them. Right now, this was the best day of her life but she knew there would be many even better days to follow once the quads were free of the NICU.

"I can trust you to take them out carefully, can't I?" Kate grinned. Everyone in who worked in the NICU knew that the Shepherds were surgeons at the hospital and so they had been granted a lot more privileges than any normal parents would have.

"Yeah," Meredith nodded; climbing out of her chair and popping open the side of the incubator. "Come on baby Lucy; let's get you outta there."

Extremely carefully, she disconnected some of the wires and tubes. The babies were all feeding regularly now and so the nasal tubes were only needed when they were too tired to suck at the bottle. Then she lifted the featherweight infant out of her bedding and into her arms. She was so tiny that her head was smaller than Meredith's palm. Settling in the chair, she watched as Derek gently eased William out of his warm incubator. William protested, squeaking and wiggling, as he was cradled gingerly in large arms. Derek looked totally astounded that he was holding his son for the first time.

Meredith swiftly nudged Kate. "Get a picture quick!"

She wanted to capture this moment of father and son bonding forever; the adulation on Derek's face and the big, blue eyes of William staring right back at him.

Kate managed to snap the pair with surprising deftness and then she set about organising Meredith and Derek into perfect poses. They could tell she'd done this a million times before and yet obviously never tired of taking photos of happy parents and their beautiful newborns. She ensured she got portraits of each of the babies with their eyes wide and blinking and several shots of the four of them together.

"Do you want to put them back or…?"

"No, I want to hold her forever," Meredith said, immediately, cooing at the tiny creature in her arms.

"Well, do you want to feed them then? We need to get them to the point where they no longer need to rely on their feeding tubes and can use bottles all the time and then they might be able to go home."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah but not for awhile," Kate corrected herself, "I mean, first we need to go about the process of weaning them from their incubators and transferring them to bassinets. Then you'll be able to really think about taking them home."

"How do we do that?"

"Well, we'll have to do it gradually. We need to start dressing them in clothes and then we'll add a blanket. After that we'll start turning the temperature down in their isolettes and see if they can maintain their own temperature without any help. Then we'll have to check they're still gaining weight well, have no apnea and pass the car-seat test before they go home."

"Car-seat test?"

Having been out of obstetrics for so long, neither of them knew the exact process of taking an infant home. They both only tended to deal with the surgeries of neonates and none of the aftercare. This was all new to them.

"They need to be able to sit up in a car seat for the length of their trip home without experiencing any dips in heart or respiration."

"Wow, okay, but then they will definitely be able to go home?"

"Yes."

Derek blew air into his cheeks. He was honestly surprised that they could already start thinking about taking the quads home. He hadn't been expecting that at all. He hadn't even really been thinking about the future because he'd been so focussed on the quads pulling through each day. Both Malachy and Rosalind had finally come off the CPAP but they were lagging behind their siblings in the weight department. However, judging by what Kate was saying if they could start eating better then they would be home just as soon as the other two. He couldn't quite believe it was that easy.

* * *

"So…which one can I have?" Cristina asked as she stared at the four babies in the NICU, two of which were in bassinets whilst the other two remained in their incubators.

William, Lucia and Malachy had been removed from their isolettes two days ago after gradually acclimatising their bodies to what it would be like. William had done a great job of keeping his temperature up – he was definitely the strongest of the four of them and the _biggest_ – and had adapted to life outside his incubator with ease. Unfortunately, Lucia had experienced a post-bath temperature drop and so she'd had to go back into the incubator. Malachy's temperature was a little lower than desired but he was still hanging in there and was allowed to stay in his new bassinet.

"As in to keep?" Meredith asked, arching an eyebrow.

"No, stupid, to be godmother to," Cristina replied and paced around the quads, inspecting each of them as one would livestock...or a car. "Hmm…this one looks the best."

"Cristina!"

"Well, she does. I don't want a boy. He'll irritate me when he gets older and I'll have to get him boy presents which will be boring and no fun for me. No, I'll have this one. What's her name?"

"That's Lucia."

"So, without the fake posh-ness, she's called Lucy then?"

"Yeah."

"Great. She's definitely the cutest."

"Will you stop comparing my children, Cristina?" Meredith snapped, irritated by her friend's words.

Cristina looked up at her and grinned. "I'm just kidding, Meredith, they're _all _freakin' adorable, as I knew they would be. I mean, how could they be any other than sickeningly picture-perfect with you and McDreamy as parents?"

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh indeed. Anyway, I've still chosen this one to be my minion…"

"_Godchild_."

"Same thing. Can I hold her?"

Meredith chuckled and shook her head. "I hope Lucy doesn't hate me for allowing you to pick her as your godchild when she's older."

"What are you talking about? She's the lucky one. Just think, one of the others is gonna have to have Evil Spawn as their godfather. Now they _really _drew the short straw."

Once both Cristina and Meredith had a baby cradled in their arms – Cristina had Lucia and Meredith had Malachy – they began to talk about all the gossip in the hospital; about all the surgeries Cristina had performed in Meredith's long, long absence; about how Owen was starting to talk about children and how Cristina just wanted to run a mile. It was nice to catch up and Meredith realise just how much she had missed whilst she'd been caught up in all her baby drama. Would she ever get back to surgeries or would she spend the rest of her life caring for these little ones? As much as she loved them and as much as she wanted to spend as much time as possible with them, she didn't want to give up her career. She'd worked so damn hard for it and someday she wanted to return.

* * *

Rosalind was the last baby to be moved out of her incubator and into the bassinet because, initially, she'd struggled to put fat on her skinny frame and therefore didn't have much insulation. However, she'd persisted and was putting on way more weight than her siblings each day. The grams were sticking to her like glue and Meredith reckoned she was just trying to show the others up by eating way more than they did and more consistently. Whilst William was also eating well and could finish over half his volume of feed, both Malachy and Lucia didn't seem interested in suckling at all. Lucia even batted the bottle away with her tiny hands several times and looked at whoever was feeding her with an expression that clearly said: "What the hell are you trying to do to me?"

Just yesterday, Meredith had had the opportunity to bath William on her own for the first time. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Whereas William was usually pretty mellow at bath-time, even falling asleep in the middle of it sometimes, he was wide-awake and fussing the entire time she gingerly tried to clean his small flailing limbs. Whenever she dribbled a little bit of water on his blond head he would scream until he was red in the face. Eventually she had to just ignore the wailing and press on. He only stopped making a fuss when he was dry, in his bassinet and wrapped up in his blanket just in time for Derek to arrive after a surgery.

"Aw…how's my little man today?"

"Giving me a freakin' headache."

"William, how can you give your mom a hard time, eh?" Derek bent down to pick him up.

"I wouldn't do that. He'll only start grizzling."

However, Derek had already picked his son up and he hadn't made a single sound. Meredith glowered. Why did he always behave for Derek whereas he would always kick up a storm for her? He was definitely going to be a daddy's boy. She could tell.

Now that the quads were progressing well, Dr. Swan had been in to discuss the date that they would finally leave the NICU and head home. When they spoke about it Meredith always felt a mixture of excitement and apprehension bubble inside her. Obviously she wanted to take her kids home so she could start feeling like a real mom but it seemed like a very daunting prospect considering she wouldn't have any of the kind, experienced staff at the hospital to help her out with any problems. They would be on their own dealing with four babies.

She, herself, had been discharged a few days ago and they had just finished adding the final touches to the house and the nursery before the quadruplets did come home. Derek had even invested in a minivan which had amused Mark no end. He kept making jokes about having to move some furniture and asking whether Derek would lend his _van _to him. Fortunately, Derek was yet to be affected by this obvious dig at his fathering status. He was completely ready to embrace the changes in his life.

The dates Dr. Swan had suggested for the babies homecoming were October 16th for the first two babies to head home and October 17th for the second two to leave. However, she'd also said that if they wanted, they could take all four babies home on the later date. Eventually, they elected the second day because it would mean they could bring the quads home together.

Before the infants could be taken home, however, they had to go through hearing screens, car-seat tests and have hepatitis B shots as well. They also needed to keep their temperatures up and keep eating well in order to be discharged. Derek and Meredith could only wait and hope that they passed all the tests with flying colours.

* * *

The babies were ready to go on October 17th, exactly a month before their original due date. It was hard to believe and Meredith found it so strange to think that they had been born so early and yet, thanks to the wonderful work of the team in the NICU and the brilliance of modern day technology, they were already coming home.

"I've got the carriers," Derek said, brandishing the colourful seats at Meredith.

"Good. Why don't you take that fantastic achievement one step further and put the babies in them?" Meredith said, glibly, from where she was sitting holding Rosie.

Derek quirked an eyebrow and grinned at her. "No need to be smart. You wanna put Rosie in first?"

Meredith nodded and climbed to her feet. She took a few paces over to where Derek had set up the carriers and gently placed the infant in her seat. Rosalind only grizzled a little bit, her small red face screwed up in confusion at being somewhere unfamiliar. She was soon joined by William and Lucia who were placed either side of her and finally Malachy who quietly sat in his carrier at the end. Three tiny faces stared up at their parents with equal measures of upset whilst the fourth quad, Malachy, contentedly went back to sleep. He was definitely the easiest going of the bunch.

"Right. There. Done," Derek said, scratching the back of his dark head. "Four babies ready and waiting to travel."

"God, they're really coming home with us aren't they, Derek?" Meredith said, leaning into his arm.

"They sure are."

As they left the NICU, Meredith felt kind of sad saying goodbye to all the lovely people that she'd had the chance to get to know during the quads time there. She'd made several friends in the nurses who she would never have talked to had she been working as a surgeon but as a parent she chatted to them as they looked after the babies. Despite her attachments, however, she was rather glad to be going in some ways because she would no longer have to travel to the hospital every day – and sometimes in the middle of the night – to see her babies. They would be at home with her, all under one roof. That was a lovely thought.

Both she and Derek carried two carriers each, one in each hand. Fortunately, the babies were pretty light at this stage but Meredith doubted whether they would be able to do this for too long as the quads gained weight.

"I've parked the car just outside," Derek informed her as they stepped onto the lift, "So we won't have to go too far."

"But will we have to pass through the main entrance?" Meredith asked, sighing. She'd been hoping to go out the back way, unseen. "Do people know we're leaving today?"

"I…er…don't know. Maybe…."

The lift pinged open.

"Oh...yes."

They both stared out at the gathering of people who stood in the foyer of the hospital. There were the people they properly knew like Bailey, the Chief, Lexie, Mark, April etc. but then there were those they didn't know and who had probably just turned up to gawk at the Shepherd Quadruplets, as they were now known around Seattle Grace.

Derek sighed. He knew Meredith didn't like attention and if he'd thought this through then he would have realised it was a safer bet to go out the back. Unfortunately, the new minivan was out the front and there was nothing they could do to change that. They would just have to face the crowds. He wanted to hold Meredith's hand or wrap a reassuring arm around her shoulders but he couldn't because he had his hands full with two semi-awake babies who were staring, dumbfounded, at the massive bright world outside the NICU.

"Come on, Mer," he whispered, "It'll only be for a couple of minutes and then we can go home."

"I know," Meredith said, biting her lip, "But don't you just feel a _little _bit like we're being treated like a freak show?"

"Meredith," Derek admonished, lightly, "We're well known at the hospital, even if we had just one baby they would be doing this."

"I guess you're right but if they upset the quads…"

"We'll walk away."

"Okay, fine."

Meredith supposed she would have to get used to this. The quads would certainly have to get used to this until they were older. She needed to practice answering questions, on not being too snappy and annoyed by people, and dealing with general goggling at her children. This was her life now. It was very different. Putting a proud smile on her face, Meredith followed Derek and went to face the masses.

"Aw…what are their names?" one nurse asked who Meredith swore she'd never seen in her life.

"William, Lucia, Malachy and Rosalind," she replied, reigning in her temper considering she'd literally been asked that question two seconds ago.

"Wow, they're quite a mouthful."

"Yeah," Meredith agreed, bluntly. She didn't care what this nurse thought, she just wanted her to piss off and leave them alone.

Seeing that Meredith was not exactly being warm and fuzzy, the woman quickly left her alone.

"Meredith, they're so cute!" Lexie said, bending down in front of Lucia and wiggling her hand with her fingers.

"Thanks, but you can see them at home, Lexie, so shift. We're going now."

The words did sound a little harsh but Meredith had had enough. She couldn't take it anymore and she was bailing. Derek saw that she was struggling and started making his goodbyes, dragging people away from Malachy and William so they could get moving again. He parted the crowd and headed for the door. Meredith was hot on his heels and the two of them made it to the minivan at a brisk walk.

"Phew…that was exhausting and we only spent freakin' five minutes with them!" Meredith exclaimed, a little stunned.

"I know but it'll get better, once the novelty has worn off."

"But people will always point and stare."

"Well, no, they won't. That's the good thing about them being non-identical. Once they get older and the boys have growth spurts they won't look so alike and it won't be obvious they're the same age."

"I guess."

"But for now you'll have to get used to it," he said and kissed her quickly on the cheek before turning to look into the car. "Now, how _exactly _do you put these in?"

* * *

Home. They were _finally _home. After eight long, tiring, stressful months they were at home with their four healthy babies. Those said babies were obviously exhausted after the excitement of being accosted by all those new people and then being in the car because they were all asleep except for Rosie.

"Hey, Rosie, how ya doing?" Derek said, softly, as he lifted her carrier seat from the minivan.

She blinked up at him through thick lashes and yawned widely.

"You gonna go to sleep too?"

She closed her eyes slowly and her head drooped.

"I thought so. Wow, though…" He cocked his head and stared at her sweet face. "What I wouldn't give to go to sleep that quickly."

He unbuckled William's carrier from the seat and prepared to take both sleeping babies into the house. However, Meredith had already taken the other two inside and so he was left to try and shut the minivan door. First he tried to slide it shut with his elbow but that didn't work so he had to resort to his foot. As he finally managed to close it and then lock it with the automatic lock, he realised that this was what it was going to be like with four babies. Normal things that he had been able to do easily would become a whole lot harder.

Once he was inside, he headed straight upstairs to the nursery where Meredith was undoubtedly putting the babies into their cribs.

Sure enough, Meredith was just tucking Lucia into her crib when he entered. Malachy sat on the floor in his carrier still snoozing, dead to the world. Derek came over and placed Rosie beside her brother before carefully picking William up. He placed the sleeping infant in the cot nearest the window, pulling a jungle-themed blanket over his tiny body before stroking his downy head and moving on to the next child. As he scooped up Rosie, he couldn't help but smell her head and marvel at the sweet, powdery baby smell she had. It was so innocent and pure that he had to inhale her scent several times before laying her down.

Meredith had finished with Malachy and came to stand next to him, admiring the quietly sleeping form of their once smallest quad. She wasn't the smallest anymore. In fact, she actually surpassed Lucia in weight by an ounce. It made Derek unbelievably happy to know all their children were growing well.

Gently, he kissed Meredith on the top of her head and knew he would thank her daily for the gift she had given him in the form of these four infants.

"I love you so much, Meredith," he whispered.

"I love you too."

**Please review! x**


	8. Drama

**Author's Note - Thanks to the wonderful reviewers of last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one too! **

**By the way, I'm so irritated at the lack of good Mer/Der interaction on the show. Is anyone else feeling this too? I swear SR takes all the big reveals: miscarriage, Meredith feeling ignored by Derek/her experience undervalued, and the reveal of her offering her life for his; and does NOTHING with them. Such massive anti-climaxes for me personally. **

**Anyhoo, on with the story. **

**PS. To the anonymous reviewer who said this idea was 'silly, immature and farfetched' and that people were 'sad' for reading it, who exactly died and made you in charge of the Grey's Anatomy Fanfiction World? GA is not exactly known for its realism - Meredith coming back to life is just one example - and the weird, unusual if a little farfetched ideas are what make stories interesting/original which is why people enjoy them - ESPECIALLY, if they are well researched like mine is because I am a _mature _writer! You have no right to pass judgement on what other people enjoy so, essentially, piss off. **

One of the babies was screaming, its high keening wail travelling through the house like a siren, piercing the eardrums of all those within range. Another one was whimpering in the background, undoubtedly about to join its sibling in the competition for attention. Derek's head was pounding like a jackhammer and there was just _no _relief. He was already cradling one infant's head with his hand, holding her against his shoulder and ignoring the sticky trail of spit-up which was travelling down his back. There was no way he could sort out the two upstairs whilst he dealt with this one. Lucia was only quiet because he was jigging her up and down, humming softly to her. He was certain that as soon as he stopped she would start crying again and _definitely _couldn't deal with three squalling infants.

"Meredith?" he called as softly as he could so he wouldn't wake his daughter up. "Meredith?" His voice became a hiss as he grew more desperate. "Meredith!"

Still jiggling the baby, Derek moved from the living room into the kitchen where he spotted Meredith leaning against one of the countertops, her eyes closed, a dark-haired baby resting in the crook of her arm.

"Meredith?" he called once more. She didn't reply. She was definitely asleep.

Sighing, he padded over to her, his bare feet slapping on the smooth wooden floor and his pyjama pants flapping around his ankles. She looked so peaceful with her golden hair falling over her eyes and her face smooth and untroubled. He was loathe to wake her but it had to be done. There was no way on earth he could cope with all four crying babies on his own.

"Hey, Malachy," he whispered to the baby in her arms. "Have you exhausted your mom?"

The child stared back up at him with large, round eyes. He was surprisingly calm considering all the chaos. Derek was already beginning to realise Malachy was the easiest baby to look after, quiet and stoical, he didn't often make a fuss. The rest of them seemed pretty set on driving him to an early grave.

It was only their first night and already things were starting to fall apart. They were meant to keep the quads on a tight schedule. It was a three-hour cycle of feeding and changing that the nurses had set up in the NICU. And when they were _in _the NICU it had worked perfectly fine but as soon as Meredith and Derek had brought the kids home for their first night at home, all of that hard work had flown out of the window. None of the babies were sleeping well and a couple weren't eating well either; Lucia and Malachy were really struggling with their acid refluxes. Everything that went down soon came up…hence the spit-up on Derek's grey t-shirt.

"Meredith? Mer," he said, gently nudging his wife with his shoulder.

"Hmmm….what….huh?" Meredith mumbled before jumping awake. Her green-grey eyes snapped open and she looked around, confused. "Derek?"

"You fell asleep," he stated. He raised his eyebrows and jerked his head at the little baby in her arms. "With Malachy."

"Oh geez! Oh god! That could have ended _so _badly!" she gasped looking horror-struck.

"It didn't though."

"But I could have!" Meredith cried, bending down and kissing her son on his downy head. "I'm such a crap mother and we haven't even got passed the first night! I thought I would cope, Derek, with the lack of sleep – being a freakin' surgeon and all – but I'm so tired!"

"I know, Mer, me too. But you're fine; Malachy's fine. It's all fine."

He readjusted Lucia in his grip so he could draw Meredith into a one armed hug. The two babies were nestled between them, protected by the warmth of their combined bodies.

"It was going be hard on the first night, Meredith, neither of us have ever done this before. It's like doing complicated surgeries; you just need practice and eventually it'll become second nature."

"I hope so," she sighed into his chest.

They stood there for awhile, just allowing the minutes to tick by. However, there was still the background cacophony of wailing and screaming. The two other babies were intent on reminding that they were still present and _hungry_. Derek was the first to draw away, kissing Meredith on the forehead as he did so.

"Come on, Meredith," he said, smiling, "We still have two babies to feed."

"Can't they wait? I was pretty comfortable there," Meredith groaned at the loss of his warmth and comfort.

"Nope. I'm afraid babies don't wait for anyone."

Derek caught her hand in his and the two of them headed up stairs, dragging their heavy legs up each step as they went.

"It's lucky the others are on call tonight otherwise they'd probably be going insane," Derek commented as he pushed open the already ajar door, allowed Meredith to slip by and then entered the nursery himself.

"Yeah…" Meredith murmured, her voice thick with weariness, "Lucky for _them_."

They both placed the - now quiet - babies they were holding in their respective cribs and then went to pick up the other two. William was wriggling on his back, his little lungs working hard to create the insanely loud crying that seemed to emanate from every pore of his tiny body.

"How can something so friggin' small make so much damn noise?" Meredith asked, scooping him out.

"It is rather impressive, isn't it?" Derek said, wincing. "Maybe he'll be an opera singer."

"Over my dead body!"

* * *

Morning came without respite. Sunlight oozed through the cracks in the curtains and woke the babies up so they were all grizzling by half past six. Meredith was passed out in the green armchair. She looked like an exhausted puppy; all her limbs lay where she had left them when she had collapsed in a heap early that morning. One slender arm hung over the arm of the chair, fingertips tickling the tousled dark hair of her husband. Derek had fallen asleep on the floor with his back against the hard side of chair and was undoubtedly going to wake up with aching muscles and a crick in his neck. However, neither of them had had the energy to return to their bedroom and they knew the quads would need them as soon as they left so they grabbed as much sleep as they could, _where_ they could.

Although the whimpering and whining of the infants began quietly, it soon increased in volume.

"Aw…crap," Meredith groaned, blinking slowly.

She squinted over at the cribs, still adjusting to the dim light. Levering herself up off the soft cushion, she glanced at Derek and saw that he was – somehow – still asleep. She guessed it would be kinder to leave him sleeping for a little longer and went to sort out the babies herself.

"Look at you all, you bunch of whiners," she murmured, scanning the white wooden cribs. "If your Aunt Cristina was here she would sort you out. Personally, I don't think I'm up to much telling off. One, because I'm freakin' exhausted and two, because you're just too damn cute. How the hell did you get to be so cute? It certainly wasn't my genes."

As she spoke, she bent down and lifted Rosie out of her bedding. The baby kicked her legs and scrunched up her face as she cried.

"Hey, hey, I'm here now, you can stop your whining! You have my attention," she soothed, bouncing the little girl up and down. This seemed to have no effect so she guessed she wanted feeding or changing or – most likely – both. With a quick smell of her tiny diaper, Meredith deduced she definitely needed a new one. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "Come on then, stinky, let's get you cleaned up."

Meredith wasn't a squeamish person; you couldn't be if you were a surgeon and so she wasn't worried about the mess or the smells involved in changing a diaper. However, she did get nervous about doing it wrong and hurting the babies. They were so tiny still and fragile; their little limbs thrusting into nothingness as they squirmed on the changing table. Every time she had to grab one of their delicate wrists or kicking legs to stop them fidgeting, she felt like the bird-like bones might break beneath her fingers. Changing Rosie's diaper was especially stressful because she was _so_ small. Meredith felt like if she pressed down too hard she could crush her pelvis. Derek had already told her that she was very unlikely to do that but she couldn't help be anxious about it. Everything seemed so much more dangerous now she had four babies to look after.

"Morning," Derek's sleepy voice greeted her from behind, as he slipped a strong arm around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder.

"Kinda in the middle of changing a diaper here, Derek," she protested.

"One down three to go," he murmured. His morning stubble scratched her cheek and she pushed him away with the point of her elbow.

"Yeah, so go sort one out. Their crying in driving me nuts."

"All right."

He reluctantly pulled away from her and went to pick Lucia up. Her little race was red as a beet and she was jabbing at the air with tiny, ineffectual fists….just like her mother, he chuckled to himself.

"Come on, munchkin."

Resting Lucia in the crook of his arm, he headed over to the second changing table that they'd had the foresight to buy.

"Okay, Derek, I'm stuck."

"In what way?" he queried, looking up.

"Do I take Rosie down to feed her because then she will be done? Or do I put her in the crib and change one of the boys before feeding them both? Because one or the other will scream no matter what I do."

"Put her down and change one of the boys. Then I'll do my two and we can meet downstairs for feeding. They won't want to sleep now they've just woken up so maybe we'll be able to put them on the fleecy mat in the living room whilst we do some other stuff. I have some paperwork that really needs finishing and there's an article in…"

"La, la, la," Meredith interrupted, waving a hand, "I don't have time to be jealous of your amazing surgeries so pipe down and help me shut these babies up."

"Okay," Derek grinned.

They worked in tandem, making sure that each of the babies was cleaned and changed and clothed in the new sleepers that someone had gifted them. The girls were in orange striped suits and the boys in green. Meredith initially hadn't really thought about distinguishing them by gender but she supposed it kind of made things easier for other people - she didn't need to tell them apart as she'd already studied their faces in great detail, memorising every dimple, curve and wrinkle of skin. Plus, everyone kept buying two garments for girls and two garments for boys and who was she to argue with people giving her free crap? She took what she got.

Feeding was an interesting event with each of the squalling infants vying for first dibs by seeing who could cry the loudest and longest. In the end, Rosie won merely because she was the most demanding and had the most irritating, ear-splitting wail. She had to be fed through a special bottle with a slower-flow nipple because if she drank through a normal nipple, she lost half the formula through dribbling. However, she didn't let her tiny mouth interfere with how much she consumed because she certainly was a vigorous eater, slurping at the bottle as if it was to be her last meal.

Both Malachy and William also ate well but were struggling with gas pains – arching their backs and curling their knees up to their chests because of it - so Derek gave them each simethicone drops in the hopes of alleviating the upset. It was Lucia who was their worst feeder. She was already developing a strong-will and seemed very set against drinking anything when she didn't feel like it – that probably wasn't helped by the reflux that she often got after feeding.

Once they had finally managed to get Lucia to drink an ounce or so of formula, they gave up and placed her on the blue, fleecy mat covered in dinosaurs – courtesy of Meredith – which was in the living room in front of the couch. The quads seemed perfectly happy to lie on their backs and observe the world around them, taking in all the sights, sounds and strange smells.

Derek and Meredith were relieved to collapse on the couch, each of them bushed even though it was only eight o'clock in the morning.

* * *

"Your house smells like crap," Cristina said as she stepped over the threshold.

"Thanks," Meredith replied, her eyebrows raised as she led her friend into the hall.

"I'm serious. It _literally _smells like crap."

"Baby crap," Meredith sighed, realising that she'd already become immune to it in the three weeks they'd been home. That was depressing.

"I though it was your job to, you know, _clean up_ the crap?"

"Hey, I'm on my own here," Meredith yelped, "If one of them slips under the poop-radar without me realising then I'm hardly to blame. Avery, Lexie and April have had the sense to move out so I don't have them on watch and Derek's already back at work! It's been a freakin' month and he's working again and I can't work because I've got to look after the babies because there is no way on earth we're gonna get a nanny because who the hell is going to have the patience and skill to be a nanny to _four _one month old babies?"

"A nun?"

"Cristina! I'm serious! I'm stuck in this hellhole and there is no way out!"

Meredith ended her outburst with a contrite expression, her breath coming out in small, anguished pants. It wasn't that she didn't love spending time with the quads; she did. They were beautiful and brilliant and growing by the day but she was just tired and hormonal and…_tired_. _So_ tired that all her limbs ached and her body felt like a rotting carcass that she had to drag around. They were sucking the life out of her and she didn't know what to do to stop it. She could almost see the energy leaking from her pores.

"Well, you've got me!"

"Cristina, this the first time you've visited," Meredith stated, glumly, her eyes dull with exhaustion.

"Yeah, well, I wanted to build up the suspense. Make it more exciting, you know?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Where are the rugrats anyway?"

"In the living room."

The two of them migrated from the hall into the front room where they found the babies lying comfortably in a line on their dinosaur mat. Malachy was fast asleep but the other three were wide awake, lying on their stomachs and grunting intermittently.

"I was doing tummy time…"

"Tummy time?" Cristina repeated, incredulously.

"Yeah," Meredith said, shaking her head, "It's in the book and that book is my bible so I do what it says. Now they're sleeping less and are more active, they can do more activities."

"Right."

"Which one's mine again?"

"They're not puppies."

Cristina seemed to ignore her but couldn't resist a jibe. "It's the black one isn't it?"

"That's Malachy."

"The big one?"

"No. That's William."

"He's way bigger than the other ones, Mer, what have you been feeding him? Steaks? Protein shakes? He looks pretty tough. I reckon he'll be a bruiser when he grows up."

"He just tends to eat more than the others."

"Aw…please don't tell me mine's the scrawny one."

"Yeah," Meredith sighed, knowing that she would never get Cristina to be polite about anything, "That's Lucia. We're a bit worried about her because she's not eating as well as the others and has lost a bit of weight since her last visit to the paediatrician's."

"It's a size zero world, Mer, she's just getting a head start."

"That's not funny."

"Yeah, sorry," Cristina said, looking apologetic, "I'm sure she's fine. She'll just be petite like you, I bet."

"I hope so."

Dropping down on the sofa, they gazed at the four little faces on the mat. Meredith couldn't believe how much the quads had changed since she first brought them home from the hospital. They had more hair for a start. Malachy seemed to be the only one who'd inherited Derek's dark colour whilst the others all had honey-brown hair which could potentially grow darker in the future. Whilst William and Rosalind had straight hair, Lucia already seemed to be developing some golden curls and wisps which were very cute.

Of the people who had visited so far, most thought that Rosie looked most like Meredith. Apparently their eyes were a similar shape or something. And when Carolyn dropped in to visit just a couple of days ago, she reckoned that Malachy did indeed look just like Derek had when he was little. She chuckled, remembering that Derek had the same cheeky look in his eyes that Malachy had. One characteristic they didn't share, however, was eye _colour_. Although Malachy had originally been born with dark blue eyes, they had soon turned into a dark, chocolaty brown that reminded Meredith of the rich truffles her mom used to have in the cupboard for special occasions. Carolyn betted that Lucia might share these dark brown eyes – that neither Meredith nor Derek had - because hers seemed to be becoming less blue by the day.

"And, if Mark was related to our family by blood, then I'd say William looks a little like him when he was younger," Carolyn had said, cheekily, nudging Meredith on the arm. "But, of course, I know that's nonsense."

"Fortunately," Derek had replied, a little cagily, "I think we can safely say Will is not Mark and Meredith's lovechild, mainly because he has three siblings that look nothing like Mark."

"Well…I think Lucia has his nose….I'm _joking _Derek!" Carolyn laughed, seeing her son's glower. "We _know_ they're your kids. Anyone could see they're yours. Now stop giving me that look; you're not a moody teenager anymore."

During her visit, Carolyn had taken a multitude of colourful, adorable photographs of the quadruplets so she could take them back to Derek's sisters. She'd had great fun trying to get them all looking nice in one photo. It seemed that whenever three of the quads looked vaguely normal in a snap, the final baby would be staring off into the distance like a gormless monkey or would be frowning at the camera lens as if it had deeply offended their sensibilities. In one, Lucia had been whacking her brother – accidentally! – in the face. Meredith had stuck that one on the refrigerator with great amusement.

"So," Cristina began, slipping off the cushions and onto her knees on the floor. She bent over to tickle one of the babies on the stomach. "Have you decided on the other godparents?"

"Well, we're going to give them two each."

"Two? You mean I have to share?"

"Well, yeah. We thought you could share with Lexie though."

"Lexipedia! Aw…_really_? How do you _really _think that'll end well?" Cristina whined but Meredith just shrugged. "Who else?"

"Well, we doubled up Mark and the Chief in the hopes they could form one responsible child-caring adult between them. They're William's godfathers."

"Wait, I thought you hated the Chief for what he did to your mom? And then there was the drinking and…"

"It was Derek's idea. He's never had kids of his own and Derek thought it would be nice for him. Anyway, Malachy has Bailey and Alex as godparents."

Cristina sniggered. "The Nazi and Evil Spawn as godparents! That should so be a movie." She paused, mid-tickle. "Hey, you know what, I vow to one day make that film. I owe it to the people."

"Good luck with that."

"And who are Rosie's godparents?"

Meredith smiled at Cristina's use of Rosie's real name and replied, "Derek's sister Kathleen and Owen."

"_My_ Owen?"

"Oh," Meredith quirked an eyebrow, "So he's your Owen now. Since when did you call him that?"

"I don't know," Cristina said slowly, blinking, "I have no idea what came over me. Forget that _ever _happened."

Meredith grinned. "What happened?"

"But, but why do I have to share with stupid Lexipedia when I could share with Owen?"

"Lexie really wanted to be Lucia's godparent and we've already told her she could be. Sorry."

"All right, fine. Hey, little monkey, you enjoying that."

Cristina's sudden change in tone threw Meredith for a second before she realised she was talking to Lucia and not her. Breathing a sigh of relief, she clambered down beside her friend and they both played with the quadruplets.

* * *

The paediatrician, Dr. Mason, heard a murmur in Malachy's heart during his two month check up. Derek was alone with the two youngest quads (they tended to take the babies in pairs to make the appointments less hassle) and he felt his own heart skip a beat when he heard the doctor's words. His throat was so dry and constricted that he couldn't get any words out in order to reply.

"It's probably nothing but he'll need an echocardiogram just as a precaution," Dr. Mason continued, "Would an appointment at Seattle Grace tomorrow morning be a good for you? Ten o'clock?"

"Er….yeah…tomorrow's good," he choked out, the syllables feeling like hard lumps in his gullet, as he bounced Malachy against his chest.

"Dr. Shepherd, this is nothing to worry about," the paediatrician smiled, reassuringly but Derek was not convinced.

"I'll believe that when my son comes out with a clean bill of health."

Although he knew from experience – mainly through Addison – that heart murmurs were common in infants and were often the result of nothing and never affected the individual in the future, he couldn't help be seriously worried now it was his own child. Everything was different now he was a father. He had a new level on which to emphasise with the terrified parents who allowed their children under his scalpel. He realised how hard it was to see things with a level head when it came to your own kids and he could now understand why they often seemed irrational and mulish to him, as a surgeon. They were just scared stiff and that manifested itself in anger and over-protectiveness.

Tucking Malachy up in his carrier, Derek thanked Dr. Mason and headed out of their local practice, one baby hanging off each arm. It was hard to navigate the doors without hands but he'd had plenty of training at this point so it wasn't as challenging it had been to start with. Stepping into the parking lot, he felt the harsh wind skim through his hair and it almost knocked the breath out of his lungs. The weather was bitingly cold this December and a thick blanket of snow coated the ground. Derek couldn't wait until the quadruplets were old enough to experience playing in the white powder but, at this age, he was more concerned about keeping them warm and safe in their carriers under plenty of layers; especially now he'd learnt of Malachy's heart murmur.

Looking down into their little pink faces, he saw they were perfectly fine with the cold. Rosie had even fallen asleep, her white polar bear hat slipping over her closed eyes. Her soft baby skin was barely visible beneath the all the wrappings which Meredith had insisted he take them in. He had warned her that infants could overheat as well as get too cold but, in these sub-zero temperatures, that seemed unlikely.

"Come on you two, let's get you back to your mom," he said, quietly to the youngsters. "She'll want to check Daddy's been looking after you properly."

He slid the two carriers in the minivan and made sure they were securely strapped in before climbing into the driving seat. In the warmth of the car, Malachy had succumbed to sleep as well. Derek sat for awhile, just watching them in his rear-view mirror, marvelling at how perfect they both were - their tiny chests rising and falling rhythmically - and desperately hoping that this problem that Malachy had would not turn out to be serious. Eventually, he had to pull his loving gaze away and focus on getting them home safely on the icy roads.

* * *

Pushing open the front door, Derek kept it ajar with his knee and picked up the two carefully placed carriers, which rested on the doorstep, before slipping neatly inside. He was definitely getting the hang of this father to quadruplets business. Once inside the hall, he contemplated whether to take the twosome straight up to bed or whether to wake them up by putting them on the mat downstairs. They were meant to be weaning them off the four-hour cycle they currently employed and making them sleep only a night but it was proving difficult. However, if he _did _allow them to sleep now, they _definitely _would not sleep tonight. He would have to wake them up.

Striding into the living room, he unstrapped each child and gently awakened them before placing them on the dinosaur mat. Rosie grizzled, irritably, staring up at him with massive pale blue eyes. She almost looked accusing, as if saying "Daddy, were you the one who interrupted my beauty sleep?" Derek guessed that Rosie was going to be the princess of the bunch; the one who demanded most attention and who would get what she wanted just because she was so damn adorable. They already spoiled her because she was seen as the runt of the litter. Of course, he wasn't worried about her being spoilt now but he guessed there would probably come a time when her attitude may have to be altered. For now, though, she could be allowed to demand attention because you had to be loud if you wanted something when you had three noisy siblings to contend with.

"You've got your mom's grumpy morning-face down to a T there, Rosalind," he smirked, chucking her dainty chin with his finger. "I can't wait until you can all smile. Maybe then I won't feel so hated."

She merely stared at him and then turned her head, distracted by the noise of someone coming into the room. Derek turned too and spotted Meredith who was sporting a red-faced infant on the crook of one elbow. Her face was almost as purple as the baby's.

"You having fun with Lucia, Meredith?"

"She won't take her bottle," Meredith growled, as if it was Derek's fault that their eldest daughter had already developed an eating complex.

"Maybe she's not hungry."

Meredith frowned at him, a tiny crease marring her smooth forehead. "Oh! Why didn't I think of that freakin' _ingenious _idea? How stupid of me!" Her head jerked to the side and back, as if she was emphasising her point with the movement.

"I just thought…"

"No, Derek, you didn't think! You don't ever think. You're barely ever here so, really, you don't have the _right _to an opinion," Meredith cried, her arm flailing now and her body quaking. Lucia continued to wail in her arms. "I _know _that Lucia hasn't eaten breakfast and I know she refused most of her lunchtime feed. I know that she does this nearly every day and I'm freakin' worried about her, Derek! What if she's ill? But I can never ask you because; as I said before… you're _never _here."

"Now hang on, Meredith," Derek said, rising to his feet. "I am here. I have as much time off as I can but one of us has to work. You've never mentioned her refusal to feed worrying you before except in passing. I didn't realise it was that bad."

Suddenly, Derek felt concern mounting inside him as he properly focussed on Lucia and saw how distressed she was. She wouldn't stop crying and yet she was producing no tears; her round cheeks were bone-dry. Her brown eyes looked exhausted and sunken as she stared at her father and clutched at the comforting neck of Meredith.

"When was the last time you changed her diaper?" he asked, urgently.

Meredith looked surprised. "Um…not for awhile. Why?"

In two swift steps, Derek was across the room and scooping his small daughter from her mother's arms.

"I need to take her to the hospital, _now_."

"What? Derek what's wrong?"

"She's dehydrated, Meredith! Look, no tears, sunken eyes, lethargy, dry lips and she has a sunken fontanelle. Those are symptoms of serious dehydration in infants, Meredith." His tone sounded angry but he was just stressed. He didn't mean to accuse her.

With the baby clutched to his chest, he practically ran to the door and grabbed his keys from the dish where he'd dropped them just a moment ago. He hadn't even had time to tell Meredith about one baby's potential problem before they were suddenly dealing with the life-threatening condition of another. Lucia's body was hot against his skin and he could feel her heart pumping faster than it usually would beneath her ribs.

He continued to speak as he moved, "And if she hasn't been feeding then she won't have been gaining fluid. You _know _how babies are easily susceptible to dehydration. They have such small bodies and such a high turnover of water and electrolytes! How long has she not had any fluids?"

Meredith looked horror-struck as she realised the true danger Lucia was in. "About eight hours! Oh god, Derek! I'm so sorry! I didn't…I didn't think…I just thought she was being fussy and the others needed attention and….oh god…."

"She has a slight fever," Derek said, pressing the backs of two fingers against her forehead before pinching the skin on her small arm. "And poor skin turgor and a delayed cap refill." He turned back to Meredith who was hovering in the doorway, unsure of what to do. "Look, Meredith, you'll have to stay here to look after the others. I'll take Lucia to Seattle Grace and you can try and get someone to come and babysit so you can come, okay? Just…keep calm, Mer. I'm going to make this all right."

Derek grabbed one of the discarded carriers from earlier off the floor and placed Lucia in it. She protested but only mildly which was unusual for her and only served to confirm Derek's worries about her lethargy. She'd stopped wailing now and was unnaturally quiet. Lucia was their sunniest baby but now she looked listless and withdrawn and that scared Derek more than he cared to let on to Meredith.

Quickly, he dashed out of the front door, letting it swing shut with a slam behind him, and strapped his daughter into the car in record time. She wasn't really wrapped in enough clothes for the freezing weather but he didn't have time to rectify that problem. In fact, it was probably an effective way of keeping her fever down. Revving the engine, he set the car into reverse and pulled out of the drive.

He felt sick as he drove to Seattle Grace at a ludicrously slow pace because of the snow. Sick with fear. He'd only ever felt this way once and that was when Meredith had nearly drowned. Somehow, though, with his daughter's life on the line, he felt even worse. Derek diagnosed Lucia had moderate, verging on severe dehydration, most likely brought about by a stomach virus which had made her not want to eat and thus not take in enough fluids. People didn't realise how easy it was for an infant to dehydrate but they could really be in trouble within twelve hours of not drinking.

Unfortunately, as well as the initial diagnosis, he also knew the complications of severe dehydration: seizures, permanent brain damage…or death. His gut wrenched at the thought. She _had _to survive.

**Duh, duh, duuuuuh! :O**


	9. A Full House

**Author's Note - Thanks for the wonderful reviews! I hope you continue reading! Apparently Mer/Der are finally going to start properly trying to have a baby! Yay! :D **

"Please, please, please," Derek whispered, desperately, as he gently lifted his daughter from her carrier and clutched the small hot body to his chest, "Hold on, Lucia."

His warm breath misted the air as he stepped out of the minivan into the cold ambulance bay. He didn't even bother shutting the car door before he ran across the snow-covered ground to the sliding doors of the ER. Technically, he shouldn't leave his car in the way but that was hardly on his list of priorities as he burst through the entranceway with Lucia cradled in his arms. His wild blue eyes assessed the situation immediately. There weren't many people about. There were a couple of nurses milling by the beds and some interns seemed to be messing around in the corner but Owen was no where to be seen.

"Help! Some help here please!" he gasped, his lungs struggling to draw enough air in because of his panic. The interns all looked up, alarmed.

Striding over to the nearest bed, he placed Lucia down on the crisp sheets and allowed himself a brief stroke of her soft hair before he began yelling at people.

"I have a severely dehydrated infant here," he shouted, slipping into medical-model and trying to detach himself from the fact it was his daughter he was treating. "She's two months old. Weighs 7lb 8oz. I need a complete blood count, blood chemistries, urine specific gravity, creatinine levels and a BUN. You got that?"

Several wide-eyed youths nodded back at him and then hurried to get on with what they'd been told. Meanwhile, Derek began to set up an IV that would deliver essential salts and fluid straight into Lucia's veins. Her limbs were so tiny and his hands were shaking. There was no way he'd be able to get the line in…

"Derek!" a familiar voice said in a shocked tone, "Derek, what happened?"

He looked up to see his best friend hurrying across the ER in record time. Mark's eyes were wide and concerned when he saw Lucia lying on the hospital bed, verging on unconsciousness. She looked up vaguely at the sound of his voice but seemed too lethargic to move at all. The heartbeat monitor that Derek had already attached showed her BP was still too high for comfort.

"Lucia…" Derek began, still trying to get the needle into her miniscule blood vessel.

"Here," Mark intervened, swiftly, "Let me."

Derek didn't protest as the needle was taken from him and stood back to allow his friend to work quickly. He looked a little shell-shocked as he ran trembling hands through his thick, dark hair and stared at his semi-conscious child. How could this have happened? How could she be perfectly healthy and then this?

"Do you know what caused her to get this dehydrated?" Mark asked as he finished inserting the IV. Lucia whimpered but didn't move. Mark gently stroked her arm with his finger in comfort.

"I….I…" Derek stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm not sure. I think it's probably something gastrointestinal. A virus probably. She hasn't been eating well and she hasn't had any fluids for the last eight hours or so."

Mark nodded. "Right, we'll send off some tests just to check and then we'll probably just have to keep her on the IV and allow her body to fight off the virus herself. There's not much else we can do."

Derek was shaking now, his whole body quivering like a leaf. His blue eyes were so distressed and Mark was immediately reminded of the time that Meredith had nearly died. His friend had looked so lost and broken. Helpless. That's how he looked now. He was a desperate father hoping his daughter would pull through. Mark realised he'd been talking to her more as a fellow doctor rather than a friend and distraught parent. Wanting to make up for that oversight, Mark caught Derek's arm in his strong hand, clasping it tightly and supportively. It seemed to jerk the other man from his obviously frantic thoughts.

"Derek," Mark said, calmly, "You caught it early. She hasn't had any seizures. She's still conscious. She'll be fine. We just need to wait it out. You did a good job."

Derek opened his mouth as if to say something but stopped before any sound came out and looked away. He took several deep breaths and roughly wiped his shining eyes before turning back to face his friend. He forced a weak smile onto his face.

"Thanks, Mark," he whispered, hoarsely.

"My pleasure. Now, come on, give me a hug."

Still clasping Derek's forearm, Mark pulled the other man towards him and wrapped him in a firm bear hug.

"I have ribs, Mark!" Derek choked out, his eyebrows shooting into his hairline.

Mark looked contrite. "Sorry, man."

"Thanks though. That was nice….if a little unexpected."

"Hey, your kid's ill. You definitely needed that."

"Well, thanks." Derek smiled.

"Don't mention it."

They turned back to Lucia and were glad to see that her heart beat was slowing down to within the normal range. Her temperature was also lower than it was before which was definitely good news. She still looked groggy but, hopefully, she was on the mend. Derek could feel the warm feeling of relief beginning to flood his veins. They weren't out of the woods yet but it was certainly getting lighter. Stepping forward, he poked his finger into her tiny fist – as he had done a thousand times before in the NICU – and couldn't help the grin that spread across his face when she held on tightly.

Suddenly, Owen appeared in the emergency room, his eyes roaming the place until his gaze fell on Mark and Derek. He strode over.

"I just heard what happened. Is she okay?" Derek didn't reply; he was too busy staring at Lucia.

"She's fine. Well, she will be fine when she's pumped full of fluids," Mark answered for him, his arms crossed over his broad chest.

Owen frowned. "What are you doing here? I was only just paged by one of my interns."

"Oh, I had a consult…" Mark paused, looking around. "Which I should probably check out at some point." He shrugged. "But hey, I don't mind looking after sick kids." He leant over conspiratorially. "In truth, I don't really wanna leave Derek on his own." He jerked his thumb at his dark-haired friend. "He was pretty upset."

"I can understand that," Owen nodded, his expression solemn. "Okay, well, if you're all sorted here then I'll leave you to it."

Once the other surgeon had gone, Mark turned back to watch Derek with his daughter, murmuring softly to her. He couldn't help the slight smile that crossed his lips. He knew that Derek had always wanted kids and Mark had always known he would make a brilliant father. Mark remembered how hurt his friend had been when Addison hadn't wanted to have children until later life. In fact, he'd been there to comfort and reassure him. Well, in reality, he took him to a bar and accompanied him in downing beers but it amounted to the same thing. In a way it was strange that Derek was here, having children with a woman other the Addison, but Mark was immensely sure that he was in the right place. Meredith was what made Derek happy. There was no denying that.

"She's gorgeous, Derek," Mark said, coming to stand beside his friend.

Derek's mouth twitched into a smile as he breathed, "Thanks."

"I reckon she'll be quite the heart-breaker."

"Well, I hope not," Derek replied, grinning now, "But I wouldn't be surprised."

"And you'll be there to make sure she doesn't give up the goods to anyone unsuitable," Mark nodded, sensibly.

Derek turned to him, looking a little green. "Please don't talk about my _baby _daughter losing her virginity."

"Well, you're gonna have to have 'the talk' sometime," Mark retorted, grinning from ear to ear as he saw his friend's expression grow more and more nauseated. "And it'll be extra fun with four of them."

"Derek!"

Both men turned around at the sound of Meredith's desperate shout to see her hurrying across the ER towards them. She was dressed in sweat pants and a massive red knit sweater that belonged to Derek. Her golden-brown hair was windswept and flecked with white snow. Her glowing cheeks and bluish hands suggested just how cold it was outside on this freezing December day. Derek registered the streaks of mascara underneath her teary eyes and immediately felt bad because he hadn't even thought to ring Meredith and tell her their daughter was no longer in danger.

"She's fine, Meredith!" he said, quickly. Her face broke into pure relief.

He hurried over to her and the two of them embraced, his larger arms wrapping around her small frame and squeezing her tightly. She cried tears of relief into his shoulder, all her pent up emotions gushing out in an uncontrollable tidal wave. Soon his coat was soggy and sticky with snot but, frankly, he didn't care. Everything was going to be all right.

* * *

It was Christmas Eve and all was well in the Shepherd household. The quads were three months old and all healthy. Lucia had returned from the hospital after two days of receiving fluids. They had deduced that she had had some kind of virus in her gut but there was nothing that could be done so they just had to let it fix itself. Her appetite had increased but she still wasn't eating as much as the other babies. However, the paediatrician assured them that this was relatively normal and that her appetite would probably soon increase when she had a growth spurt.

Derek had managed to find the time to tell Meredith about Malachy's potential heart problems and the two of them had accompanied him for his ECG. The test came back fine which meant he didn't have any holes in his heart or any other defects. He just had a slight murmur which would either clear up on its own or stay with him but not have any affect on his life. It was after that test and when Lucia finally came out of hospital that both Meredith and Derek could breathe a well-deserved sigh of relief. They had a healthy family under one roof again.

The house was bedecked in Christmas crap – as Meredith so fondly called it – courtesy mainly of Lexie who'd insisted that they make the place look festive for the babies because it was their first Christmas. They had a tall, natural tree standing in the corner of the living room which was – just recently because they hadn't had much time - covered in baubles and lights. Admittedly, that had been fun to decorate, especially with the babies. Meredith had held each of them whilst she wrapped the twines of Christmas lights around the branches, showing them the pretty lights and the sparkling decorations. Derek had tried to help but he'd failed surprisingly badly and almost pulled the tree down on top of him when he tripped over a – badly placed! – wire.

And that was when Lucia first giggled.

At first, neither Derek nor Meredith knew where the noise had come from and when they realised it came from the quads, they weren't sure which one because they were all lying together on the cushions on the floor.

"Do it again!" Meredith ordered, excitement mounting inside her. She nudged her husband and he protested feebly.

"I'm not making a fool of myself – again – just to make them laugh," he replied, indignantly.

Meredith punched him on the arm. "Come on! Stop being such a miserable ol' Scrooge and make the freakin' babies laugh!"

"Fine but I don't see why you can't do it."

Sighing, Derek went back over to the place where he'd tripped up and repeated the jerky, embarrassing movement of wind-milling his arms and stumbling.

"Ah-woo!" The sound was accompanied by the sound of hysterical giggling as Lucia wriggled with delight. Her little face had creased into a massive, toothless smile and her blue eyes sparkled, joyfully.

"It was Lucy!" Meredith gasped.

"Yeah, I can hear that," Derek said, grinning down at his daughter. It was hard to believe just a couple of weeks ago she was severely ill. "Come here, sweetie."

He bent down and scooped her up in his arms. She was still smiling and waving her arms around in excitement.

"You're a clever girl," he laughed, chucking her under the chin.

Meredith came to join them, leaning on Derek's arm. "Do you think your Daddy's a little bit silly?" she crooned in an equally silly voice. Lucia gurgled, kicking her legs. "Yeah ya do."

"Hey," Derek said, making a face at her. "She's meant to respect me."

"Ha…I'm just happy she's got a sense of humour."

"One that she obviously shares with you," Derek quipped, the sparkling amusement in his own blue eyes matching his daughter's.

"Too right."

They played with Lucia for a bit, making her laugh and giggle until she was pink in the face. Eventually, they had to leave her because the guests were arriving. They'd decided to have a whole bunch of people over for Christmas because it would be nice for the quadruplets and nice for them, especially Meredith, to have some adult company and help. Derek had obviously worked a lot less than he used to in order to come back and help Meredith with caring for the babies and she'd also had Lexie round and Cristina. However, the problem was that all her friends were surgeons and so they were all extremely busy. Sometimes, it felt like they came in shifts to help her. An hour or two here, another hour there. In the times that they weren't there, she was becoming quite adept at looking after four squalling infants. Sometimes she would put them in their monster stroller and take them for a short walk. She didn't stay out too long because of the cold and the unwanted attention. A lot of people would come up to her to see the quads or say things to her as she passed by such as 'Quite a handful you've got there' or 'You've been busy!'. The most amusing comment by far was when someone asked, "Are they two sets of twins?" Yeah, she wanted to reply, who were born at the same time. How dumb could people be?

It was strange because after Christmas, around March, when the babies reached the six month mark, Meredith was planning on going back to work. Obviously not to the extent that she had been before but she was going to be leaving the babies alone for the first time. Derek had managed to find a nanny who specialised in multiples and was willing to work with all four quadruplets part-time. They had decided to have a mix of using the nanny to start with and then, when the babies were around a year, the day-care at Seattle Grace as well. Meredith and Derek would take several days off a week each - perhaps alternately, they hadn't decided - to make sure the quads still had time with their parents. It was going to take a hell of a lot of planning but they reckoned they could pull it off and still make sure the kids were well cared for.

The first to arrive were Mark and Lexie.

"I have chocolates! And wine!" Lexie said, excitedly, brandishing the two objects at Meredith as soon as she opened the door.

"Er…thanks, Lexie."

"Can I see the quads now?" She was practically bouncing in anticipation.

Meredith quirked an eyebrow at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, they're in the living room."

"Ooh, yay!" Lexie said and hurried passed her into the other room.

"Hey, Meredith, Derek," Mark said, also looking a little surprised by Lexie's abrupt departure from the warmth of his arm. He nodded at each of them. "Merry Christmas." He held up a crate of beers. "Now, where can I put these bad boys?"

"In the kitchen," Derek grinned and led him through.

They were soon followed by Alex with Bailey and Tuck who he'd given a lift to. They did originally invite April and Avery but they'd gone back to their own families for the holiday season. It was a pretty full house and Meredith just hoped she'd got enough food and drink for all of them. Owen and Cristina were the last to arrive.

"Hi, Cristina," she grinned widely when she caught sight of her friend. Owen stood beside her wearing a lurid green knitted sweater with a reindeer on it. He did not look amused.

"Hey, Meredith," Cristina said, flouncing into the house, "What do you think of Owen's sweater? I gave it to him for Christmas. Don't you think he looks just wonderful in it?" Meredith tried to detect a hint of sarcasm in her friend's words but was stunned when she found none. All she could really think was that Cristina sounded quite drunk. "I'm gonna go in here. That's where the munchkins are, right?" She wandered away.

"Is she…?" Meredith began, looking at Owen, bemused.

"Drunk?" Owen sighed. "Very. We had a bit of an…argument about...babies." He looked suddenly wistful.

"And so she drank?"

"She's had a bottle of wine already."

"Wow, this is going to be an interesting Christmas Eve," Meredith exclaimed, her eyes widening. She paused. "And the sweater?"

"Revenge gift, I think," Owen replied, making a face.

"Riiight," Meredith nodded and laughed.

Once the last guests were through the door, Meredith migrated back into the living room and felt a small smile grace her lips when she saw all of her friends and family dotted around the room. The Shepherds get-together in the summer had been nice but this is where she would choose to be any time. Bailey was introducing Tuck to the quads with the help of Derek and a hovering Lexie; Alex was chatting to Mark, although he looked a little bit uneasy considering their past history; and Owen was trying, in vain, to get Cristina to stop drinking. She'd already helped herself to the stash of alcohol in the kitchen and currently held a beer in one hand and a glass of wine in the other.

Meredith walked over to Alex and Mark in the hope of saving them from a slightly awkward conversation.

"Full house then, Grey," Mark commented, glancing around.

"Yep, just how I like it," she smiled, her eyes creasing with contentment.

"I think it's gonna be an interesting one if Yang's inebriation is anything to go by." He clapped his hands together and smirked. "Should be fun."

The babies were put to bed around eight o'clock leaving the adults free to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening without worrying too much about them. Derek had elected to be designated sober person so that he could keep checking on the babies and therefore Meredith could help herself to a few much needed glasses of wine. The warm glow they gave her in the pit of her stomach was certainly something she'd missed during pregnancy and her first few months of parenthood. However, as Cristina had predicted all those months ago, the alcohol was going to straight to her sleep-deprived brain and she was ready to go to bed.

In the end, she ended up on the couch, leaning against Derek whilst he entertained the guests. Before she realised it was happening, she soon slipped into a deep, deep sleep.

"What's Mer doing?" Cristina slurred as she wobbled over, slopping wine from her glass. Owen snuck up behind her and took the precarious object from her hand. She barely noticed. Instead, she stumbled closer to Derek's sleeping wife.

"She's asleep, Cristina," Derek said, a little defensively.

Cristina looked upset. "Aw….why's she gone and done that? Who…who am I meant ter have fun with now?" she whined, stamping her foot but missing the floor in the process so she almost fell over. Owen swiftly caught her under her armpits.

Cristina turned round to see who had stopped her from collapsing inelegantly on the floor and immediately frowned when she saw the sharp blue eyes and the shock of red hair that belonged to her husband. He looked imploringly at her, obviously asking her to stop, but she paid no notice. Instead, she swivelled back to face Derek and pointed a swaying hand at him.

"Did…did ya see that, McDreamy?" Cristina said, "That's my husband."

"Yeah, I know, Cristina," Derek replied, his eyebrows raised.

"He caught me. He's always catching me when I fall….aha! That's a song! _Pleeease catch me when I fall or else I won't come back at all…._" She slurred the lyrics off-key and Owen watched her, his expression glum. Suddenly, she stopped and threw herself on the couch next to him. Derek found himself shielding the still sleeping Meredith, hoping she wouldn't wake. "He wants me to have a baby."

"Er…" Derek glanced up at his friend who just sighed and shook his head, wearily. He looked at Cristina. "Do you want a baby?"

"No," Cristina said, sharply, almost lucid for a second before she slipped back into her drunken stupor, "I wouldn't be able to handle it. You can tell him how hard it is, can't you, McDreamy, with your McBabies? Tell him to leave me alone so I can become a super-duper-mega-surgeon."

Derek looked up at Owen again and saw that the other man's eyes were full of intense sadness. Eventually, Owen just shook his head one last time, threw his hands uselessly in the air and walked away. Derek watched him go and felt immense sympathy for the other man. He knew how he felt. How desperately helpless and yet hopeful he felt. That's how it had been with Addy.

He was just about to turn back to Cristina and tell her _exactly _what he thought when he realised she'd fallen asleep. Her loud snoring reached his ears. Sighing, Derek climbed to his feet and looked around the room. Most people were drifting off to their assigned rooms now. It was late. He bent down and picked Meredith up, placing a strong arm beneath her shoulder blades and another one under the crook of her knees. She was a little bit heavier than she had been before the pregnancy but not by much. Her head lolled against his chest.

Gently, he traversed the stairs and managed to carry Meredith to their bedroom where he tucked her into bed. He kissed her softly on the head and then went to check on the quads. They were sleeping soundly. Finally, he went downstairs and found Owen carefully gathering his wife up, ready to take her upstairs.

"Are you okay, Owen?" Derek asked, placing a comforting hand on his muscular shoulder.

"I'm fine, Shep" Owen grunted, "Thanks for asking."

"About Cristina…"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, okay," Derek nodded and dropped the topic reluctantly.

* * *

William woke his parents – and probably the rest of the house – up at five in the morning, crying out for his bottle. He was the keenest eater of the four and always let them know when he was hungry about half an hour before he was actually scheduled a feed. Derek was the one to shuffle out of bed early on Christmas morning to see to him before he woke up too many people, the other babies included.

The room was dim, there was no chance of sunlight coming through the curtains at this time of the morning in the dead of winter, and so Derek had to feel his way over to the crib nearest the window which was where William lay. He reached down over the bars of the crib and scooped the baby up. His eldest son was much bigger than the other babies at 12lb and so Derek was always surprised when he held him in comparison to Lucia. Quietly, he carried William from the room and the two of them crept down the creaky stairs into the kitchen. The baby had stopped crying now in the comfort of Derek's arms and was just grizzling whilst he waited to be fed.

"Come on then, little man," Derek said, shifting the infant into one arm so he could open the cupboard where they kept the formula, "Let's get you some food before you scream the place down."

Whilst he fed William, Derek hummed Christmas tunes softly to the baby and was very pleased when William smiled and cooed at the melodic noise. His big blue eyes were bright with interest, especially once he'd finished his feed and was comfortably full. In fact, he even started gurgling a bit, a bit like Lucia had done last night. Derek couldn't wait to hear him laugh for real. In fact, he couldn't wait for a lot of things such as teaching them to talk and watching as they learned to walk. One day he might be able to teach them to play baseball or ski. He just wanted to see them develop. They were already growing so fast. He couldn't even imagine how different they'd look in a year.

Each of the quads was developing their own personality and he couldn't wait to see them build up even further until they were like proper little people in their own right, not just babies squalling on a mat.

"Now," he whispered in the delicate shell of his son's ear, "Do you want to go back to bed or shall we just wait down here for everyone to get up?"

William stared at him and then jerked his arms, grinning gummily.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. We'll just hang out down here. Just you and me. Your brother and sisters will probably need feeding soon anyway."

Derek spent a good half an hour talking to William and playing with him before the rest of the quads woke up and wanted to be fed. With a yawn, he clambered stiffly to his feet and popped the little blond boy down on the floor mat. William whimpered at the loss of contact but calmed down after a moment so Derek went to check on the others.

Meredith was already in the nursery, looking rather tired still but determined to tend to the babies. Tendrils of tangled hair hung around her face as she leant down into Rosie's crib and lifted her out.

"Good morning, sweetheart," she said, lovingly, kissing the baby on her soft forehead. "You're sounding pretty hungry. Do you fancy some breakfast?"

She turned and spotted Derek. A warm smile spread across her face.

"Hi," she said, her eyes twinkling.

"Hi and Merry Christmas," Derek grinned back.

"Oh yeah," Meredith said, "Merry Christmas, Derek."

**Please review. I know Christmas has gone but hey, we could all do with a little dysfunctional festive cheer at the Grey-Shepherd house, right? **


	10. Painful Separation

**Author's Note - Thanks for all the supportive reviews! They were very nice. I'm sorry I haven't updated in so long. I've been very busy with exams. I was inspired to write again by last night's episode. Heart-wrenching stuff. I hope everything turns out alright. :/**

"Aw crap, Derek, how the hell can I leave them?" Meredith murmured as she stood in the doorframe, gazing upon the four beautiful little people they had created. Her heart ached at the mere thought of not seeing them for a few hours let alone an entire shift.

This morning was the start of her first day back at Seattle Grace after her considerable absence. A few days ago she had been itching to get out of the house, get back to work and continue saving lives like she had before. However today, when she actually had to _physically_ leave, she was having second thoughts. She hadn't been away from her children in the entire six months that they'd been outside the comfort and relative safety of her womb. Today she would be leaving them with a stranger. Well, not entirely a stranger. They'd had Hilda visit on several occasions leading up to this moment in order to get the quads used to her and also to check how she handled them. Both Derek and Meredith had to admit that they were impressed by her skill and compassion. She had an amazing ability to seamlessly multitask in a way that made it seem as if she was actually two people. Somehow she managed to feed and change one baby in between comforting another and singing to the other two to keep them quiet. They had merely watched her in awe. She was trained in emergency first aid for infants and they couldn't think of anyone better for the job. Still, it _killed _Meredith to leave her precious babies with anyone who wasn't her or Derek.

Before she was a mother she would never have _fathomed _how intensely she would feel for her children. She had thought she felt strongly enough for them when they were merely developing inside her but those emotions were nothing compared to now when they were four fast-growing human beings who were forming distinct personalities before her eyes and she had bonded with them on an indescribable level. She loved each of them so damn much that it physically _hurt _to think of them coming to harm.

Every day over the past six months she had watched them grow from squalling, shrieking creatures lying on a mat that could only kick their legs and wriggle on their backs to four curious, attentive little humans who sat in _Bumbo _chairs and observed the world around them with the wonder that only a baby can manage. Every single thing amazed them and it amazed Meredith every time she saw them experience something new. She loved the way each of their expressions morphed for different situations; for instance, a small frown line would form between Malachy's eyebrows when he was focussing on an object and Meredith was certain he was committing it to memory, storing it away for future analysis like a little baby Einstein; whilst Rosie would happily gurgle away on top of the washer as Meredith did the laundry, perched safely in her _Bumbo_ and 'ooing' especially loudly when the machine vibrated beneath her, her bright blue eyes shining with delight. William had the cutest expression when he was being tickled mercilessly by his father and made a sound that reminded Meredith of a donkey. And Lucia definitely had the most charming, infectious giggle coupled with a massive cheesy grin which she would break out when someone so much as paid her attention. It was a gorgeous sight to see.

Although she loved all these little moments with the quadruplets, Meredith had decided upon her two favourite events of the last couple of months with ease. The first had been when they took the babies outside and placed them in the small yard on the grass. All four babies had been momentarily stunned into silence as they sat in their chairs surrounded by the lush green grass under the shade of the tree. However, they had been even more enraptured when they looked up and caught sight of the huge expanse of blue above their heads that was the sky. Meredith could have sworn they spent at least ten minutes merely gazing into the heavens, too busy drinking in this wide new world to do anything else. Malachy and William were also quite taken with the swaying leaves of the tree. Malachy would murmur 'goo' every time the breeze rippled the branches and thus rustled the green leaves. Derek had taken about a million photos of their first true experience of the yard. It was true they'd been outside the house before but they'd never been able to study their surroundings in such detail because they were usually wrapped up in the stroller or being hurried to the car.

Meredith's other all-time favourite moment, that she would probably never forget, was when one of the quads finally noticed the others. Derek and Meredith had been curled up on the couch whilst the babies had 'tummy time' on their mat when all of a sudden Lucia suddenly lifted her head just as Malachy did the same and their eyes met. They stared directly at each other for just a moment whilst Derek and Meredith – who had frozen in their positions – tensed in anticipation. Abruptly, Lucia warbled 'a-whoo' at her brother who promptly squealed with laughter and the two of them couldn't stop giggling for a good five minutes. It was probably one of the most adorable things Meredith had ever witnessed.

After that it hadn't taken long for all the quads to become aware of each other and make eye contact with each other. They were already beginning to form bonds that they would keep for life.

But now Meredith was being pulled away from this glorious display of human development. She may not be there when one of the quads said their first word or started to crawl or even started to walk. They had just begun to try the babies on mashed fruits and vegetables, starting with sweet potato which all but William had spat out upon it touching their lips. It was only now she realised she wouldn't get to be there every meal time to coax them into eating all these new, exciting foods.

"I can't do this, Derek!" Meredith exclaimed, taking a step back into the room.

However, before she could get any further, Derek caught her arm. "Meredith, I know this is hard. Trust me; I've already been through it." His gaze was solemn. "But you _have _to leave them sometime. The longer you put it off the harder it'll be. You just need to take this step and then it'll get easier, you'll get used to it and it will be normal. I promise."

"But it _hurts_," Meredith said, her eyes large and round, "It actually _hurts_ to leave them!"

"I know but you just have to step through the door. They'll be here when you get back. You know that."

"I do know that," Meredith sighed before lamenting, "It just doesn't make it any freakin' easier, Derek."

"Come on. We're going to be late." He tugged a little on her bicep.

"Can I kiss them again?"

"Meredith…"

Suddenly, Hilda reappeared. She'd been in the kitchen sorting out formula and looked surprised to see her employers still dithering in the doorway.

"Mr and Mrs Shepherd?" she questioned, curiously, "Is everything okay?"

"Yes, Hilda, thanks, everything is fine. We're just going. Meredith is just having a moment of separation anxiety."

"Ooh, Mrs Shepherd, that's perfectly naturally." Hilda smiled warmly. "Most mothers I have worked for find it very difficult to leave their children for the first time, especially in the case of multiples."

"See!" Meredith exclaimed, indignantly, shooting a sharp look at her husband. "I'm not being irrational!" Derek just rolled his eyes.

"However, Mrs Shepherd, I have a lot of experience and I know it is very important for mothers to leave their children. It is essential that you manage to get back to work now before it becomes impossible for you to leave."

Derek was smiling at the nanny but he knew better than to say 'I told you so' to Meredith because he would only get punished for such a childish statement. Instead he kept quiet and waited to see what his wife would do. He could see this was distressing for her but he also knew she needed to be tough and push through it if she ever intended on going back to work. She'd already been out of surgery for almost a year and although she'd been studying and researching in her spare time that didn't make up for the practical skill gained from being in an OR. She needed to get back in the game if she was to maintain her career. Part of him thought about letting her have her own way which would inevitably lead to her stopping being a surgeon altogether but he knew, in the long run, that that was not what she wanted. Meredith Grey was a doctor. That was her calling. However, he also believed she was made to be a mom too, to make up for her own mother's mistakes. She was a surgeon and mother of quadruplets. It was a seemingly impossible feat but he knew that if anyone could do it then it would be his wife.

"Okay…." Meredith suddenly spoke, snapping him from his reverie.

"Huh?"

"Okay….let's...let's go," Meredith said and nodded determinedly. She turned on her heel and pushed past Derek, heading for the front door. Surprised by her sudden movement, Derek took a moment to react. However, he soon realised she'd chosen to be strong and she was leaving so she could go and do her job and save lives. A small smile graced his lips. He was so proud of her.

"We'll see you later, Hilda," he told the nanny, "We'll call if we're going to be held up."

"Of course, Mr Shepherd. Now you go before she changes her mind!"

* * *

It took Meredith several weeks to get used to being away from her babies for so many hours but Derek was really supportive and Hilda seemed to be doing an excellent job in her absence so she couldn't be so miserable forever. Plus, Cristina kept bugging her and telling her to stop moping around like a wet blanket and get back to being the kick-ass surgeon she used to be. It was hard work of course – especially combined with the extra lack of sleep that came with raising quads – but Meredith eventually found herself relatively up to speed and back on track with the majority of the residents. Obviously, Cristina was still streets ahead of all of them and Alex was doing pretty damn well too in OB but, surprisingly, Meredith found she didn't mind that much. In the past she would have been jealous and would competitively try to win as many surgeries as she could in order to catch up with her best friends but now…well; now her priorities were completely different. What interested her now rather than a complex neurosurgical case was whether the quads had learnt anything new during her absence and rather than being eager to stay behind at Seattle Grace as long as she could, she was eager to get home to cuddle each of the quads. She didn't realise she'd become a proper mom until Bailey mentioned it in passing.

"You know, Grey, I never pegged you for the mothering type but you know what, I got you all wrong. You make a damn fine mom and those kids of yours are very lucky to have a mom who knows how to love them right. You ain't nothing like yer mother, Grey, and that's a damn good thing!"

Meredith hadn't replied. She'd just blinked stupidly and stared after Bailey as she marched off down the corridor. It was only later that she realised she'd probably received the best compliment of her life.

The quadruplets had nearly reached eight months now and they were so much bigger than they were when they were born, which was inevitable but the _rate_ at which they had grown was phenomenal. With both the formula and the soft solids they were eating, the boys were shooting upwards and outwards. Will was still the heaviest but he and Malachy were roughly the same length. Rosie was the next biggest and Lucia was still lagging behind her siblings but she was in a healthy weight range. They hadn't had any other health scares or development problems and Meredith and Derek were sorely hoping to keep it that way.

"Hello?" Derek called into the empty hallway as he shut the door behind him. He listened out for a reply but received none. Shedding his coat and dropping his keys on the hall table, he wandered towards the kitchen. "Meredith? You around?"

He listened out for an answer. No reply. He was about to call for a third time when he heard a muffled thump upstairs. Immediately concerned, Derek spun on his heel and hot-footed it up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time. He headed straight for the quads' bedroom and shot through the door. He froze when he saw Meredith sitting on the floor, cuddling a wailing William to her chest. His little arms were wrapped tightly around her neck.

"What- what happened?"

Meredith looked up upon hearing his voice. "Oh, you're home. Hi." Her fingers gently stroked her son's blond hair. "Well, Will's been having a busy day. You know he managed to sit up on his own on Tuesday? Well, he decided that if he could sit up then why not try standing? He's been attempting it all afternoon even though I explained to him that actually _crawling_ would be the next logical step. Obviously, he didn't listen. Must have inherited your hard-headedness."

"Or yours," Derek immediately quipped, his eyes twinkling as he realised that if Meredith was this relaxed then his son must be fine.

She just scowled at him before continuing, "Then, just a moment ago, he managed it. _Unfortunately_ he was so proud of himself that he forgot to hold on and he fell over. Backwards. A bit of a bump but I've checked and he's fine."

"A bump?" Derek stiffened. "Where?"

"Derek, its fine." Meredith sighed. She knew he would overreact. "It's just a small contusion on the back of his head."

"Let me see."

"Derek…"

"I just want to double check."

Meredith sighed once more but released the still sniffling child to his father. Tenderly, the experienced neurosurgeon checked the back of his son's vulnerable skull ensuring that his wife was indeed correct and it was a minor injury. It wasn't that he didn't trust her; he just had to check himself because he would never forgive himself if he didn't and something happened. It was better to be safe than sorry.

"Hey, Will," Derek murmured, gently, catching his son's blue-green eyes in his own. "You okay now? Yeah?" He brushed some blond locks from his pale forehead. "You just have to be more careful in the future. You got that? I know you want to run before you can walk but, trust me, that's not the way things work. Okay? C'mere and give me a hug."

William obviously hadn't understood a word his father had spoken but he had understood the comforting tone and Derek's gesture enough to curl himself up in his strong arms and bury his head in his neck. Derek cupped the boy's injured crown in a large hand, carefully stroking his downy hair.

"I don't think babies can understand life lessons this early," Meredith whispered, a smile curling her lips, "You may wanna wait a little while before you start teaching him the philosophy of the universe."

"Hey, I want to get them on track for great things early on, Mer," Derek grinned back, "Who knows, if we get a head start they may be become the world's youngest quadruplet surgeons."

"Ha," Meredith snorted, "I think they'd be the world's _only _quadruplet surgeons. _And_ may I point out they may not _want _to be surgeons."

"I know," Derek replied, leaning over and kissing her temple, "They can be whatever they want to be. Hell, I don't mind if Lucia wants to be a ballerina and Rosie wants to be a pop star and Malachy wants to be a…builder – at least he can help finish our dream house." He winked. "And, in fact, I'm fairly certain Will here is gonna be a thrill-seeking motorbike rider who enjoys creating sculptures in his spare time. Isn't that right, little man?"

William didn't react; he had found his green pacifier and was sucking contentedly on it, still pressed against his dad's chest.

"Phew, well I'm glad that's cleared up because I really thought you were gonna start reading them neurosurgical journals instead of bed-time stories."

Derek's smile widened, his eyes creasing. "Now _there's _an idea! Why didn't I think of that?"

"Derek!"

"I'm joking!"

"You know, I really don't think you're very funny," Meredith retorted and stuck her small pink tongue out at him before clambering to her feet.

"Well, I happen to think I'm very funny. Don't you think your daddy is funny?" he asked William who merely stared at him blankly.

"Ha! Obviously not!"

"He's tired."

"No. He has taste," Meredith replied, tartly, and flounced from the room.

**Please please review! :D x**


	11. Good Odds

**Author's Note - Thank you very much for the lovely reviews despite my prolonged absence. I don't know how regular I'll be with the next few updates but I'll try not to be so long! This chapter starts a little differently from the norm as I wanted to do an experiment. I hope you like it. Ooh, and I have posted some links of what I think the quads look like at about 12 to 18 months old. If you don't want your imagination's picture of them ruined then just don't look! :D **

* * *

_**Article from a local newspaper:**_

_**A Superhuman Feat by Madeline Scott **_

_To look upon the angelic faces of the Shepherd Quadruplets is something of a privilege and I have to say its rather hard to tear my gaze away to talk to their equally beautiful parents Meredith and Derek Shepherd, or should I say __**Dr**__. Meredith and Derek Shepherd because, astonishingly, these two super-parents manage to combine careers at the famous Seattle Grace Hospital with raising these four gorgeous rays of sunshine. Derek is the Chief of Neurosurgery and has been involved in several ground-breaking trials and Meredith is an experienced resident. The two met and fell in love at the hospital. _

_Their beautiful offspring – and I'm not saying this merely because they are adorable babies, I __**assure **__you these kids are movie-stars in the making! – were born last year on October 2__nd__and have transformed their parents' lives. With a charming smile, Derek states in soft, tender tones, "I thought that meeting Meredith was the best thing that could ever happen to me but then we had the quads and they really changed my view of the world." _

_Playfully, Meredith bats him on the arm and asks, "Hey, are you saying I've lost the top spot then?" The smile on her pretty lips and the sparkle in her green-blue eyes show she's not at all offended. _

"_I'm just saying that you may have to __**share**__ the top spot," Derek replies, sweetly, "Just as I have to share yours." _

_Meredith smirks at him. "I never said you were in my top spot. In fact, I don't think you even made the top ten." _

_It is at this point that I realise I'm observing marital bliss and I have to say I'm pretty damned jealous! Where's **my** gorgeous, funny, sweet neurosurgeon? _

_At nine months old, the quadruplets have begun to form their own personalities as Meredith enjoys telling me. "William is the bravest but also the most stubborn one. I've told him a million times that the he needs to stop trying to climb the bars of the playpen 'cos he's going to hurt himself but does he listen? No. He doesn't get far - I mean he can only just crawl - but he seems pretty set on being the first one to escape!" I laugh and tell her I don't envy her trying to keep control of all four of them when they find their feet. "You're telling me!" she chuckles. William is the eldest of the four – only by being the first one to be delivered by caesarean but he certainly seems the biggest. "Then there is Lucia, she has very sunny personality. Something she must have inherited from Derek 'cos she certainly didn't get it from me! And she's very mellow, not much upsets her, she's very happy just to sit in the garden all day chirping at the birds. Sometimes I worry about forgetting all about her what with the others to demanding all my attention!" _

_As his wife speaks, I can't help but notice Derek watching her, smiling when she gets animated about the babies and occasionally rubbing his thumb over the skin of her arm. As I said before, __**where's **__my wonderful surgeon-husband? Isn't that a question we all ask ourselves, girls, every day?_

"_Malachy has a cheeky streak and he likes giving very wet, sloppy kisses. He and Lucy are probably the most laid-back. Oh, and he likes to chatter a lot. Its not exactly talking, just lots of random sounds but he __**looks **__like he's trying to tell you something when he directs it at you. I've given up trying to decipher it though." _

"_He said 'Da' the other day," Derek chips in, glowing with pride. _

"_Yeah, he did. It was pretty cute. Derek was practically dancing with happiness," Meredith teases. I don't know whether the 'cute' refers to her son or her husband but I can definitely picture the scene. I think my ovaries tightened just imagining it. _

_And Rosalind? I ask, my gaze travelling to the baby girl with impossibly blue eyes. She is rocking on her knees, dressed in a soft yellow dress, and I just want to pick her up and steal her away. _

"_She wants to be an only child," Derek declares with a twinkling grin. "But unfortunately she has to put up with three very annoying siblings. She's pretty good at getting attention now though. You see that sweet little face?" He gestures to his daughter. "I mean how could __**anyone **__say no to that? I certainly can't. She spends half the time on my lap when I'm on my computer working and even though it takes twice as long I really don't have the heart to not let her sit there." _

"_Yeah, she's got Derek wrapped around her pinkie already. They all have," Meredith adds. _

_I'm not surprised. If I had a family this beautiful then I would probably have trouble ever leaving the house. We'd all starve because I just wouldn't be able to stop staring at their adorable little faces. However, Meredith does have to leave them several days a week with a nanny, which she tells me is difficult but necessary in order to continue her career. _

_I have to say I'm pretty in awe of this super-mom and her utterly charming family and I'm very reluctant to leave their lovely family home with its giggling babies, warm hosts and the delightfully colourful collection of children's toys covering every surface. I'd like to stay here forever. However, one of the quadruplets is climbing the playpen again and someone's pager has just gone off and I realise that it would be best for me to leave so they can get on with their superhuman feat of raising four babies whilst juggling patients and saving lives. _

Derek felt a small smile tug at his lips when he finished reading the article that Miranda Bailey had dropped on his desk at lunchtime. He left his office in order to find Meredith and show her.

When the local newspaper had heard their story: two surgeons raising quadruplets; they had phoned up and asked for a short interview. Both he and Meredith had been very reluctant at first but were persuaded by various friends to allow their happiness to be captured on paper. The interviewing experience had felt a little more awkward than it was portrayed on the paper and he felt weird reading about how the interviewer, Maddie, had observed his reaction to Meredith's words but he remembered, at the time, he couldn't help it. It had been absolutely amazing to see Meredith so at ease talking about her children. She was generally a reserved person and never in the past would she have told a stranger so much but, obviously, having the quads had changed her in a good way. She was obviously very proud of her children.

In fact, _he _was very proud of both her and his children. The quadruplets were now just over nine months old and were rapidly growing into very mobile babies. William was already cruising around the living room when he was allowed out of the playpen and Rosie was hot on his heels. Lucia was a little more reserved and had only gotten to the point of rocking back on forth on her hands and knees whereas Malachy didn't seem interested in properly crawling much at all because he'd already perfected his own method of travelling: the army-crawl. This involved Malachy looking very much like a snake that had perhaps had a little too much to eat – and drink – and never actually resulted in him going in a straight line. He would perform a wavy, twisty path to the other side of the room. However, he was very determined and always got to his destination in the end. The little grunts he made as he hauled his small body across the carpet made the whole spectacle even more adorable. At the end he would sit up straight and offer his parents a massively proud grin.

"Mr Shepherd!"

Derek looked up at the sound of the voice and caught sight of Hilda standing in the foyer of the hospital. He tensed in apprehension, before hurrying over to her when he caught sight of the stroller towering beside her.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" he asked, urgently, glancing at the quads who all seemed to be settled comfortably in their seats.

"No, nothing is wrong with the babies, Mr Shepherd," Hilda quickly assured him, "But there is something wrong with my father. He's had a heart attack."

"Oh Hilda, I'm sorry. Is he…?"

"He's alive but in a serious condition. I need to fly home in order to check on him. I'll be gone for a week. Maybe two." Her face crumpled. "I'm _so _sorry, Mr Shepherd. I _know _I shouldn't do this to you at such late notice. You can fire me if you want."

"What? No! Hilda, you're the best nanny we could have ever hoped for. You take as much time as you need. We'll be able to cope for a few weeks. You need to make sure your father's okay. I understand that." Derek placed a comforting hand on her arm.

"Oh thank you, Mr Shepherd."

"How many times have I told you to call me Derek?" he asked, smiling gently.

"Sorry….Derek," she smiled back, her eyes watery. "Thank you. I must go. My plane is leaving in half an hour."

"Okay. Well you leave the quads here. That'll be fine. Phone us when you're ready to come back. Have a safe flight."

He encased her in a quick hug and then she bid him goodbye and hurried away.

Once she was gone, Derek turned back to look at the quads. Four pairs of eyes stared solemnly up at him. He placed one hand on his hip and scratched the back of his head.

"Whoa…okay, wow….what are we going to do with you guys?"

* * *

Meredith snapped off her gloves and drew the curtain back around the patient she had been treating in the ER. He'd had a head injury that was bleeding copiously but fortunately it was superficial and didn't need surgery. One of the interns had called her for a consult and she couldn't help feel a little pissed off that they hadn't realised the injury hadn't even cracked the skull before getting her down. She wasn't in the mood for pointless, time-wasting consults. She'd had a crappy day so far and she still had another six hours left of her shift. The first patient she'd had this morning had died within minutes of entering the hospital and it had gone downhill from there. All she wanted to do was go home and hug her babies and wish the world wasn't such a horrible death-filled place.

Bone-weary and irritable, Meredith scowled viciously at a couple of interns who dared to get in her path as she made her way towards the elevator. She stabbed the button and waited impatiently for it to arrive. Her vein pulsed in her temple. She was getting a headache; she could already feel it creeping over her tired, stressed out brain.

"Oh _come on_!" she growled at the elevator and slammed the solid doors with the palm of her hand.

Suddenly the doors pinged open.

"Whoa! Who peed in your _Cheerios_?"

"Derek?"

Meredith blinked several times as she stared into the elevator, trying to comprehend what she was seeing. Derek stood right at the back of the space, leaning casually against the wall like she'd seen him do so many times before – it was a position that for some reason she found extremely hot – but this time there was a large black stroller standing between her and him (and the chance to kiss each other senseless). Several pink faces turned towards her, their eyes lighting up when they caught sight of their mommy.

"Ma!" Malachy squealed upon seeing her, his little fists reaching towards her. His chocolate brown eyes were so warm and happy that she felt her heart melt immediately.

"Oh, god, you have no idea how freakin' glad I am to see you guys!"

Meredith's face broke into a massive grin and she stepped onto the elevator. The doors closed behind her.

"But what are they doing here?" she asked, looking up from their perfect little faces to her husband.

"Hilda had a family emergency. Her father had a heart attack," Derek replied solemnly.

"Oh no! That's awful."

"Yeah. So she had to rush off," Derek said, sadly, before brightening a little. "So now the quads are coming for a tour of Seattle Grace. You have _no _idea how much attention they've got so far. I can't take two steps without being stopped by a nurse. I think they're enjoying it though." He turned to the babies. "Hey, guys, this is the elevator. It's pretty special. Its where your mom and me…."

"Derek! You can't tell them that!" Meredith interrupted; horrified as to where she believed Derek was going with his guided tour.

"Got engaged," Derek finished with a cheeky grin, glancing up at Meredith, "And we've had a lot of important moments in here." He didn't elaborate further – thankfully.

Meredith smiled at him and shook her head. It was true this elevator did mean an awful lot to them but that didn't mean that their nine month old children should know about what they'd got up to in here. Some things were best kept secret. Instead of berating him for his near slipup, Meredith bent over and scooped Rosie from her seat, cuddling her against her chest. She sighed in relief.

"Bad day?" Derek asked, gently, seeing the tension dissipate from her face the moment she inhaled Rosie's soft baby scent.

"Yeah. Really, _really _crappy," Meredith replied, burying her nose in her daughter's downy blonde hair. "But this makes it so much better," she murmured, her eyes closed.

Derek watched her for a few moments and found himself lost in the sweet scene between mother and child. Unfortunately, they were all brought back to reality as the elevator ground to a halt and the doors slid open. They were reluctant to disembark but there were several doctors waiting to get in who were not interested in waiting for the poignant moment to properly finish. With Rosie still clutched tightly in one arm, Meredith stepped off the elevator and helped Derek manoeuvre the stroller out with her spare arm. Once they were out, they stopped off by the coffee cart so they could both have a much needed drink.

"Tha?" Rosie asked, curiously, batting at the Styrofoam cup in her mother's hand.

"Ah!" Meredith swiftly retracted the object. "No. That's hot, Rosie. No touching." Seeing her daughter's disappointment, Meredith kissed her on her forehead. "This is a coffee, Rosie, and your mom and dad need to drink lots of it to stay alive. Okay? It's _coff-ee_." Carefully she pronounced the syllables.

"Cuff-cuff," Rosie repeated, diligently.

Both Meredith and Derek grinned. "Yeah, cuff-cuff sounds about right."

"Shall we take them to the cafeteria? Will's grizzling a bit. I think he's hungry. Hilda's put some food in a bag somewhere on the back here…" Derek said as he rummaged around in the storage space at the bottom of the stroller. "Aha! Yeah. We have some yummy looking sweet potato and some banana. Doesn't that look good guys?"

"Cuff-cuff," Rosie chirruped, smiling widely. She bounced in Meredith's arms. "Cuff-cuff."

"You've got her addicted to the stuff already, Mer, and she's not even one."

"Well, you were the one who said they were gonna be surgeons. They'll have to start liking coffee early if they wanna succeed," Meredith replied, glibly.

They made their way to the cafeteria and made quite a scene when they gathered four highchairs together around their small table. Several visitors to the hospital shot them curious looks while the staff who already knew all about the Shepherds just shook their heads at the ludicrousness of the sight. At home, Derek had invested in a quad feeding table which was essentially a normal table with four chairs set into the table-top in a semi-circle. The person who was feeding the babies would sit on the side that all the chairs faced and it made their job so much easier to have the quads' mouths within reaching distance. It also made sure the babies were securely tucked in and that they all had equal attention. The fact that the chairs partially faced each other also meant that they could look at each other and gabber at each other when they were left alone. It was a very effective investment although it did make their kitchen look a bit odd.

Here, without the specialised feeding table, they would have to make do with normal highchairs placed two together between the two adults. Malachy and William sat next to each other on Derek's right whilst Rosie and Lucy were to his left. He smiled broadly at Meredith who sat opposite him with a small chicken salad. In the past she would have eaten chips or French fries but she wanted to set a good example for her children and not be a hypocrite when she tried to get them to eat healthily. There was no way was she adding four more to the percentage of morbidly obese children in the Western world just because she didn't look after her kids properly. Fortunately, whenever she slipped up she always had Derek, the healthy food Nazi, to make sure they all ate right.

"Well look at you all picture-perfect and puke-worthy," a patronising voice sounded from behind her and Meredith turned in her seat. Her green eyes met Cristina Yang's crisp brown ones and she smiled.

"Hey, Cristina."

"Hey yourself," Cristina retorted and grabbed a spare chair, plonking herself in it. She slapped her own plate of French fries on the plastic surface of the table.

"Hello, Cristina," Derek said. Cristina blatantly ignored him. He sighed and went back to the quads.

"Are you coming up to the gallery to watch McSteamy's face transplant?" Cristina questioned, bluntly. She stuffed a fry in her mouth.

"Oh, is that today?"

"What do you mean, 'is that today'?" Cristina's eyebrows shot into her hairlines. "God, what the hell has happened to you? You soft…mushy…_baby-hugging_ nutcase." She stared at her friend in disgust as Meredith carefully wiped some orange goop off William's nose. "Where's the _fire_? The _drive_? The passion to be the goddamn _best?_ I mean, you and me, we were gonna be famous! You know that, right? I had plans. Obviously I would be the _most _famous but you'd be there too. Grey and Yang. The dream team."

"I never had you down for being so sentimental, Yang," Derek interrupted, smartly. Once more he found himself categorically ignored.

"That's just not what I want anymore, Cristina," Meredith replied, shrugging her slender shoulders beneath her blue scrubs. "I'm happy where I am, working here, in this job."

"But….but…." Cristina stumbled, gawping at her. "You can't be serious?"

"I am, Cristina. I have the quads now and although I thought I always wanted to be a surgeon, to prove my mom wrong, to show her I could make something of myself, I've now realised the best way to…be _better _than her is to do something she could never achieve and that's to be a great mother. I wanna see my kids grow up. I don't wanna be stuck away from them in surgeries that I barely care about. All I can think about is them, Cristina, even when I'm _in_ a surgery. I'm completely in _love _with them."

There was a pause.

"What a load of crap," Cristina declared. She scowled darkly at her friend, her brow furrowing in deep lines. "Kids aren't everything, Meredith. You can't give up the life you tried so hard to rebuild after your mom trashed it for a load of snivelling, pooping babies. You worked damned hard. It would be a pointless waste. You have _talent_. You'd be selfish to waste it just because you want to be a 'great mom'. _Anyone _can be a great mom. Not everyone can be a great_ surgeon_."

With that, Cristina scraped back her chair and stormed off. Meredith watched her go, a little shaken by her friend's outburst. Her mind reeled with the implications of Cristina's words.

"You all right, Mer?" Derek questioned, softly, slipping his large hand over her smaller one.

"Yeah," she murmured, "I…just…what if she's right?" Her throat constricted painfully.

"Trust me, Mer, she's not." His gentle blue eyes connected with hers. "She just doesn't understand that you could have found happiness outside of surgery. In some ways you and Cristina are the same but actually you are both different in _so _many ways. You want different things. I also think she feels hurt that you've left her behind; that you've found something 'better' than what she believes is the best for her. It's a natural human feeling: part jealousy, part confusion because now she has to question her own core beliefs. She used to identify with you and now you're something…alien to her."

Meredith looked at him for a few long seconds and then placed her other hand over his and squeezed, tightly. "Alien? Thanks a bunch. And since when did you add psychologist to your already freakin' long list of skills?" She grinned and he grinned back.

"I've been taking night classes in-between surgeries, running my department, looking after the babies and hanging out with you. I've actually become the first human to function without sleep," he deadpanned with a perfectly straight face.

Unfortunately, he ruined it seconds later by letting a snort escape. After that he couldn't stop. His chuckle was infectious and soon the two of them were laughing quietly together. Seeing their parents laughing, the quads wanted to join in and soon both Rosie and Lucy were giggling excitedly. William clapped his hands, a recently acquired skill, and bounced up and down in his chair.

Meanwhile Malachy was up to no good – as usual.

"Hey there, mister!" Derek exclaimed, catching sight of his son leaning precariously out of his highchair to swipe a French fry from Cristina's abandoned plate. Quickly, Derek darted out of his own chair and pushed Malachy back to safety before he could topple onto the floor. "You better watch it, trouble, or you'll end up hurting yourself. Oh, no, don't eat….that…."

Derek sighed in defeat as Malachy stuffed the squidgy fry in his mouth. With partially chewed potato still in his mouth, he offered his father a massive gummy grin.

"Ha, he's already on the junk food, Derek. It's all downhill from here. Mark my words," Meredith teased, seeing her husband's crestfallen expression.

"Cristina Yang is going to singlehandedly destroy our kids' development," Derek groaned, running a hand through his hair and sitting back down. "Even when she's not even here!"

Meredith smirked at him. "Well we have got four of them. Hopefully one of them will slip through her growth-stunting, emotion-crippling net."

"I suppose those aren't bad odds."


	12. Apologies and the Zoo

**Author's Note - Thank you very muchly for the reviews! Sorry for the gap! I hope you enjoy! There's quite a lot of dialogue and humour in this chapter so I hope you find it funny and can picture the scenes! :D **

"We're going to the zoo."

"Derek, you _will_ die."

"Oh ye of little faith."

"No, I'm serious; you will die taking four nine month old babies to the zoo! That's just asking for a pulmonary embolism. I mean, you'll keep an eye on one, yeah, two tops but then you'll lose the other two in the lion enclosure and then where will you be?

"Two babies short of a string quartet?" Derek couldn't help but grin.

"I'm trying to be the responsible one here, Derek!" Meredith declared, adding a small stamp for emphasis. Derek's eyebrows shot up into his hairline and he offered his wife an amused look.

"Meredith, I won't be alone anyway, my mom is coming down from New York to help."

Meredith, who had been about to continue arguing, paused, then asked, "She is?"

"Yes." As he spoke, Derek scooped up a bit of mushy banana and offered it to Rosie. She declined with a screwed up face and a forceful fist bump which knocked the gooey mess to the feeding table with a resounding _splat_.

"And when exactly were you planning on telling me this?"

"When you weren't screeching at me and pulling your hair out like a crazy woman?" Derek offered, teasingly.

"_Don't_! Don't push it, mister," Meredith said, warningly, looking unmoved.

"Yes, ma'am."

"And _don't_ call me ma'am."

"Yes, sir!" Derek barked and mock-saluted; his periwinkle blue eyes were sparkling with mirth.

"Oh ha, ha" Meredith sighed.

"Does the sergeant get a kiss before his boss goes to work?"

"Don't count on it," Meredith retorted but they could both she was melting to Derek's formidable charm.

Slowly, he leaned towards her across the table and she reluctantly, with a half smile on her face, closed the distance between them. Their lips met in a soft caress which lasted only a few seconds because Rosie chirped, demanding attention, at the same time as Malachy launched his bowl of _Cheerios_ across the kitchen floor with a well-placed elbow. In his defence, he looked a little contrite…but not much. Perhaps the smile gave away how unabashed he really was.

"Oh would ya look at that? Seems that the sergeant has some scrubbing of the floor to do," Meredith smirked. She ruffled Malachy's wavy brown hair affectionately. "Now, I have to go. I love you." She kissed Derek on the cheek once more, feeling the roughness of his morning stubble against her lips. "You need a shave," she whispered, breathily against his skin.

"Love you too, Mer," Derek replied with a little bit of sarcasm.

"See ya."

"Bye. Wish me luck."

"Yeah," Meredith stated, surveying the mess that four rowdy nine month old babies had already created at seven o'clock in the morning, "You sure are gonna need it."

Once she'd gone, Derek finished feeding the babies their breakfast – they were now eating three mushy meals a day, like real people! – and then left them to chatter nonsensically among themselves whilst he clattered around with the dishwasher. It was strange being home alone with them. Usually it was Meredith left alone with them or else they would both be there. He had decided to take the next two weeks off to look after the quads whilst Hilda was looking after her father because he certainly didn't want Meredith missing anymore surgeries if it could be helped. She was just getting back into her rhythm. He just hoped he could handle the mischievous foursome as well as she did on her own.

They were nearly ten months old now. They'd all reached various milestones; some minor, some major. Will and Lucia had both started cutting their first teeth, much to the dismay of Meredith who had only recently managed to get them all sleeping for at least eight hours straight through. Unfortunately, it was now back to how it had been when they were tiny babies, waking at all hours screaming and crying. It was very painful to watch the distress his two children were in and he wished he could do something for them but other than kissing and cuddling them, there was nothing else he could do to help. His comforting did seem to be having some effect though because the other night the two of them fell asleep on his chest as he lay on a beanbag on the floor and slept for six hours. It was both a relief for him and them to see them so at peace. In fact, he'd fallen asleep as well and had woken to find Meredith snapping photos of him.

"Wha?" he'd questioned, dog-tired.

"Oh sorry, Derek, it was too cute to pass up. Go back to sleep." She'd dropped a butterfly kiss on his forehead and then one on each of the babies' noses before leaving them alone.

Another interesting side effect of the teeth-cutting was the fact that the babies would bite anything for relief and that included the arm or leg of the person closest to them. It was like having two little – admittedly adorable – vampires in residence.

The babies had also all managed to stand, holding onto something of course, but it was quite exciting for all involved – especially for Rosie who had squealed in pure delight and promptly fallen on her backside. However, it had then led to Meredith and Derek baby-proofing the higher up furniture that the quads could now reach and setting up a fenced off area in the living room to place the babies in. They realised they needed to fence them in now they'd gotten more mobile and inquisitive, otherwise the whole house would be torn apart. All the babies could crawl now and they seemed to enjoy pulling books – even massively heavy medical textbooks – off shelves so those had to be barricaded up.

The final two milestones they'd reached were feeding themselves. Well, mainly this involved popping a piece of cereal in their mouth but it was a start. And Lucia had managed some actual words after they were repeated continually to her. She could say 'bubbles' in the bath and whilst watching the television she had called 'Obama' after he was mentioned several times. Now she just said Obama whenever she felt like it, much to Derek's amusement.

"We have a politician on our hands," he'd laughed, chucking her under the chin.

"Nah, she's too laidback for that. My bet is on environmentalist. Have you seen how she eyes those dandelions?"

"Yes, I have but I think she just wants to eat them," Derek replied with a grin.

Also, Lucia, Rosie and Malachy had all managed to say 'mama' which Meredith assumed was in reference to her but Will still had a little way to go. He was much more reserved than his siblings, quietly observing the world. However, he had discovered the delights of the bouncy kiddies' baseball that Derek had dropped in the playpen and he liked to throw it across the carpet before scrambling after it on his hands and knees and throwing it again. Unfortunately, whenever any of the others tried to 'play' he would immediately whine and stop playing altogether. After a time, his brother and sisters had realised this and just left him be. In fact, he wouldn't even play with Derek. The only person he'd ever willingly thrown the ball to was Mark – who'd come round for a spur of the moment visit to his godson – and from that moment Mark had declared that he was going to make him into a pro-athlete. Derek had looked on sourly until Meredith reminded him that William was not yet one and probably had no idea what was going on so Derek had plenty of time to teach him whatever he wanted in the future.

"So, guys," Derek said, once he'd finished with the cleaning up of the kitchen and scooped up the smattering of _Cheerios_ courtesy of Malachy. "You ready to go to the zoo?"

"A-whoo!" Lucia chirruped, clapping her hands, her honey-golden curls bobbing around her head.

"I'll take that as a yes?" Derek grinned, taking them each out of their seats at the feeding table and carrying them over to the playpen. "Right, I've gotta phone your grandma to see whether she's going to be making an appearance any time soon. Okay? So can you entertain yourselves? Here, look, I'll put the TV on."

He sought out the remote from the back of the couch and flicked on the screen that was mounted on the wall, away from small damaging hands. _Baby Einsteins _shimmered into life.

"There you go. Enjoy."

* * *

About an hour later, Caroline Shepherd knocked on the door of her son's house and waved the taxi cab away. She hadn't wanted to make him come all the way out to fetch her when he had all the quads to look after so she'd made her own way; just as she had when she visited him the first time, all that time ago. It was hard to believe so much had happened since then. He'd gotten married – sort of – and had four gorgeous grandchildren to add to her already large brood. She couldn't wait to see them again. Often she wished that Derek would move back to New York so she could see them all more often but she knew that he was happy here with his job and his friends and the new life he'd created for himself after the devastation he'd experienced with Addison. She understood that Seattle was _his _place; his safe haven and she supposed she couldn't fault him for wanting to stay.

The door swung open moments later to reveal an unshaven Derek with tufty morning-hair, dressed in sweats and balancing a bright-eyed baby on his hip.

"Nice to see you've dressed up for my visit," she said with a wry smile, taking in his attire. However, before he could reply, she asked, "Now, how's my youngest grandson?"

Malachy, who was currently sucking his fist with great concentration on his face, stared at her with large, round brown eyes. He couldn't understand what she was saying but he seemed to recognise that she was addressing him. With a wet noise, he extricated his balled up hand and thrust it towards her, covered in sticky drool.

"Ah, like father, like son, I see," Caroline laughed, gently taking his tiny fist between her thumb and forefinger and shaking it. Malachy merely looked confused by her strange actions and he stared at his hand after she'd released as if it had turned green and grown antlers. "Oh, that frown is all yours, Derek."

"That's exactly what Meredith said," Derek chuckled.

"Boy, has he grown though." Caroline let out a low whistle.

"Yeah. They all have," Derek agreed, looking a bit nostalgic.

There was a pause. "So, are you going to let your ma in or am I going to have to beg?"

"Oh, yes, right, sorry. Come on in, Ma."

He gestured for her to come through and the two of them made their way into the living room where the rest of the quads were waiting. William was still sitting in front of the television, watching some kids' show whilst Lucia and Rosie seemed to be engaged in some kind of game that involved a lot of giggling and pushing each other. Every time one touched the other they would both collapse into fits of laughter.

"Looks like fun," Caroline commented, dryly, surveying their antics with grandmotherly affection. Her usually cool, shrewd eyes were warm and amused by what her granddaughters were doing. "Gosh, and they've grown too. Look at them. All that hair. Last time Rosie was practically bald."

"Yeah. I swear they change every minute. Each morning I wake up and go to get them out of their cribs and they look different."

"Well, savour it whilst it lasts. Before you know it they'll be all grown up and wanting to move across the country to become hotshot surgeons and…" she tailed off with a smile, glancing at her son so that he knew she was joking.

"Yeah, I hope that doesn't happen too soon," Derek replied with a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oh come on, goose, I was only joking." Caroline punched him lightly on the arm. "Now, you said we were going to the zoo?"

"Yeah…"

"Well, we better get going if we want to be there before closing time. From what I've heard from Meredith over email, it takes you guys hours to get out of the door."

* * *

"Rawwwrrrr!" Malachy shouted, gleefully, from his perch in his father's arms. "Rawwwrrr!"

"And what animal is that?"

"Rawwwrrr!" the little boy giggled again, his brown eyes alight with excitement.

"Lion. Can you say li-on?"

"Rawwwwwrrrr!"

"Maybe not then."

"Do you like the lions, Malachy?" Caroline asked her grandson with a gentle smile. "They're big and they roar don't they?"

"Rawrr!"

"I think that's all we're going to get out of him for now, Ma," Derek said with a sigh, "I guess we can safely say which his favourite animal is though. How are the others doing?"

"I did manage to get Lucia to say 'el-pha' but I thought giraffe might be pushing it," Caroline stated as she jiggled the baby in her arms. Lucia gurgled happily, her eternally sunny disposition shining through on the slightly murky grey day.

"She's definitely our resident whizz-kid," Derek said, proudly, his eyes sparkling as he stared at his small perfect daughter. She smiled back at him, showing off her two tiny front teeth. "I've got high hopes for you, kiddo."

They walked on for a bit, each holding a baby, whilst Derek pushed the mammoth quad stroller with his spare hand. It was a bit of an effort but the babies didn't like being cooped up in the confines of their seats for too long when there was so much to look at so they had to take turns being out. He was definitely building up the muscles in his arms from all this pushing and carrying though. It was more of a workout than he'd ever done at the gym. Sneaking a quick peek into the stroller, he saw that Rosie had fallen asleep beneath her blanket whilst William sat quietly in his chair just watching the world go by with semi-interest as his eyelids gradually drooped.

"We've tired them out," Derek declared, amused by his children who were now dropping like flies. Malachy's heavy head had just dropped onto his shoulder and Lucia was battling to keep her eyes open so she could gaze in wonder at the flamingos in all their pink, one-legged glory.

"What are they, Lucy?" Caroline questioned her bright grandchild.

"Gah!"

"They're fla-ming-goes. Can you say that?"

"Gers!"

"Fla-ming-goes."

"Gers! Gers!"

"Okay, we'll stick with that then."

Moments later, Lucia had also succumbed to sleep. Mother and son continued to walk steadily around the zoo, despite the fact that neither of them were really looking at the exhibits. They passed the bear enclosure without much of a glance and the penguins went completely unnoticed. Each was lost in their own thoughts. Finally, Caroline broke the silence.

"So, Derek, how're you coping with all…this?"

"By 'this' you mean them?" He jerked his thumb at the quads.

"Yes. As your mother, even though you _are _an adult and I _know_ that, I feel it's my duty to ask after your welfare. I mean no one else will. Meredith doesn't have the time to worry about you with all these four and your friends won't really understand or won't notice because I _know _you, Derek, and you put up a good front so people think your coping but as I just said, I'm your mother and I know when things are tough. You look _shattered_, sweetheart."

Derek slowed in his pace and turned to look at his mother. He held her gaze for a good few seconds as if contemplating what exactly to say to her. She waited patiently.

"It is…hard," he finally, admitted, "But it's a good hard. You know how things only feel like they were _really _worth it if you've worked your ass off for it? That's how it feels with the quads. Yes, there are some god-awful days that are just so goddamn hard that I just want to sit down and never get up again but I think that would be parenthood even if I didn't have four of them. And then there are the good days - which are most days in all honesty - where Will learns to say 'Da' or Rosie pulls herself to her feet or they all just roll about on the floor giggling like something I did was the funniest thing in the world and I'm just so, so glad to have them. I love them so much it _hurts _to think about them not being in my life. They mean everything to me and I wouldn't change anything about my life right now."

"Well," Caroline kissed him softly on the temple, "That's what I like to hear. And I am happy for you, Derek. You deserve all this, more than anyone."

"Thanks, Ma."

* * *

Meredith was leaning against the nurses' station when someone tapped her gently on the shoulder. She turned around to come face to face with Owen in all his tall, red-headed glory. Blinking a little, she raised an eyebrow in question when he didn't say anything straight away. He seemed to struggle to form words the first few attempts – and Meredith was immediately reminded of Will trying to say a difficult word - but finally he got the hang of some syllables.

"Cristina…."

"Yeah?"

"Cristina wants to talk to you. I mean….I mean she hasn't actually _said _she wanted to talk to you but…but I can tell she wants to," Owen said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly, "She feels bad about what happened yesterday."

"Did she actually say that?" Meredith questioned, suspiciously.

"Not in so many words but…"

Meredith experienced a brief flash of anger. "Then she should be making her own apologies and admitting what she said was childish and unnecessary. She should be _happy _that I'm not competing against her for all the surgeries. Now she gets the pick of the bunch."

Owen shrugged, helplessly. "I don't know what to say. I can't say I understand what goes on in Cristina's head any more than you do, than anyone does. She's got her own way of thinking about things and I'd be lying if I said I knew how."

"I know," Meredith sighed, "I know." Seeing his pleading expression, she caved. "Fine, I'll go talk to her. Where is she?"

"On the observation platform, watching one of Bailey's surgeries."

"Okay. I'm going, I'm going," she muttered, darkly, and headed for the doors.

"Thank you, Grey."

"Don't thank me yet!" Meredith called over her shoulder. "This will probably all end in tears….and broken glass….and a very angry Bailey."

Owen laughed behind her but she could have sworn there was a hint of nervousness there. He wasn't entirely sure if she was kidding or not.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Meredith slipped into the quiet observation room above the OR and spotted Cristina sitting in the second row with her knees bent up into her chest and her feet on the back of the chair in front. She was munching loudly on a green apple and had a bag of chips sitting beside her. It must be lunchtime. There were only a couple of other people in the room so hopefully their conversation wouldn't be overheard.

Tentatively, she walked down the steps and shimmied along the row of chairs to where her friend was sat. With a deep breath, she went to sit down.

"That seat's taken," Cristina said, immediately, in a sharp tone without looking up.

"Cristina…"

"I'm serious," Cristina replied, still not looking up as she took another massive and slightly aggressive bite of her apple. Meredith winced. "My nachos are sitting there."

"Okay," Meredith sighed and shuffled to the next seat.

"Ah-ah-ah, that's reserved for my coffee when it comes."

"Cristina…"

"I sent an intern; they should be here any minute."

"Cristina, this is stupid."

"You're stupid," Cristina muttered.

"Now you're being childish."

"Am not."

"You are."

"Am not."

"I think my point is proven," Meredith replied, wearily. She moved back along and moved the nachos out of the way, sitting down. Cristina made an unintelligible sound of annoyance but didn't say anything else. "Look, I have to deal with four kids at home. I'm not willing to have you be all angsty teenager on me, got it?"

"Hmph…"

"I'm serious. We need to talk."

"We do not," Cristina said, primly.

"We do."

"Not."

"I'm not getting into this again, Cristina. I'll come here to say what I've got to say and then, if you don't like it, well, tough."

"Is being a hard-ass in the job description when you become a mother?" Cristina quipped, coolly.

"Actually, it's in the job description of a surgeon," Meredith retorted, "Which I still am. I may not be destined for _greatness _like my mother but it doesn't mean _you _can't be great. You don't need me. You're Cristina Yang, cardio-god. I'm just Meredith Grey, daughter of Ellis Grey. That's all I have to my name Cristina. You made your name all by yourself. You didn't need a famous mother. You were just you: hard-headed, competitive, a slight bitch." Meredith paused to smirk, her eyes sparkling. "And _undoubtedly_ crazy and you got _here_ and you'll go way, way further. But I've decided to go a different route. One where I won't always be treading in my mom's footsteps. That's how I can finally be my own person. Do you understand? You're destined to be the famous one because you're freakin' awesome and you deserve it _and _you saved my husband's life."

Cristina was quiet for a few minutes and Meredith just waited patiently.

"That's probably the nicest thing anyone's ever said to me," Cristina said, softly.

"Even with the bitch bit? And the crazy part?"

"Yeah. Those were the best parts. They made it more real, otherwise it was just gonna be a clichéd diatribe."

"Gee, thanks."

"I'm sorry."

"Its okay."

"No, I'm sorry for yelling at you."

"That's okay too. We're the twisted sisters, remember? We've forgiven each other much worse."

"Shall we hug it out?"

"Nu-uh."

"I'm glad we agree," Cristina said with a satisfied nod and promptly turned back to watching the surgery. Meredith shook her head and smiled.

**Review? I hope I got Meredith and Cristina IC! **


End file.
